The Remnants of the Sky
by TheEphemeralDream
Summary: The Land of the Sky was destroyed by Konoha ninja generations ago. The last handful of survivors live in isolation, fearing discovery by the Land of Fire. Despite history, young Mirai's conscience saves a Konoha ninja she finds unconscious in the woods, who turns out to be Konoha's Hatake Kakashi. They are drawn together at once, but can they overcome years of hatred and violence?
1. The Stranger in the Woods

I gaze down at the bloodied, unconscious man in disgust.

_Konoha ninja. _

His hair is a startling gray, but he looks young. I push down the mask that hides most of his face, and I'm somewhat surprised to see an attractive face and a strong jawline. There's a scar that runs from his left eyebrow to his cheek. I wonder briefly if he is blind in that one eye.

It's quite strange – he's covered in blood and has obviously suffered through a battle, and yet there's little sign of disturbance in the forest. There's no scuffle, no broken branches …

I should kill him, right here and right now. Forget about conscience, and forget about mercy. Forget about a chance for redemption.

I press the edge of the kunai to his throat where I can see a pulse flutter weakly. My hand shakes.

I sigh, and put the kunai away. I can't do it. It's not something I _could_ do.

And I'm not able to watch him be killed by my friends either, so I remove his forehead protector gently and toss it into the woods. It'll be suspicious, but hopefully it won't be linked to the ninja now in my arms.

I grunt as I lift him – he's heavy. I shift his unmoving body over my back and sling his arms around my neck. His head rolls to rest against mine, and I don't push him away, even though a rivulet of blood tickles my cheek. I'd seen enough blood that I wasn't bothered by it anymore.

His weight is painful, but it's not impossible to get him back to the village. It will take me about twenty minutes, I estimate – twenty minutes to feel like the worst traitor in history.

When I'm about halfway there, the man stirs.

"Who … who are you?" he croaks. "Where am I?"

"Shut up," I snarl, looking straight ahead. "If anyone asks, you're from the Country of Lightening, got it?"

He doesn't reply, and I realize that he's fallen unconscious again. I hope he heard me.

"Kentaro!" I shout. "Let me in!"

"What the hell, Mirai? Who is that?" the gateman exclaims, but he doesn't move to open the gate.

"Let me in or I'll tell everyone about you and Tsubasa!"

He glares at me, knowing I have leverage over him there, but I'm too exhausted to feel anything but relief when he opens the gate.

He takes the man from me, still glaring as I stretch out painfully.

"We're going to my house," I say imperatively.

"Who is he?"

"A guy I found out in the forest."

"And you just brought him back?" He's incredulous.

"What would you have me do? Leave him to die? Though," I say uncomfortably, "he seems pretty damn close to it anyways."

"Do you even know anything about him? What if he's a spy?"

"Come on, Kentaro," I say, laughing despite a twinge of discomfort in my belly, "nobody knows we even survived. How would they know where to come to find us?"

"You realize I'm going to have to tell Keiji about this, right?"

I glance at him. "I don't care if you tell him," I lie, "but don't go seeking him out."

Kentaro's expression doesn't look promising.

"You know what I can tell Keiji," I threaten. "He wouldn't be pleased to know that you seduced his youngest daughter …"

"Shut _up_!" he says, glancing around to see if anybody heard.

We reach my house.

"Kentaro, stop worrying," I say, feeling a sudden wave of pity for my brother-in-law. My father still didn't know they'd gotten married. "I'll take full responsibility for anything ill that happens because of him. And if he's a rogue or an enemy, I'll take care of it." At least, I hope I will. "I think I can hold down a guy who looks like he's on the brink of death."

Kentaro doesn't look completely convinced, but he dumps the guy on my bed. I wince – I'd meant to remove the sheets first. He leaves without saying goodbye.

I shake my head. He'll get over it. We usually get along pretty well, but Kentaro can be much more ruthless than I am sometimes. But he really does love my sister, and it was really she who seduced him, rather than the other way around.

Hopefully, the man will be healed in a few days, before my father returns.

Now that the man is in relative safety, a new problem arises. I've been trained a little in healing, but not enough to heal serious wounds. How will I be able to heal him?

I try to slip off the green vest he wears on the outside as gently as possible, but I have to lift him a bit. I don't know whether to be thankful or not that he's unconscious. Then I remove the long-sleeved, dark blue sweater he has, and I gasp.

A huge patch of raw, burnt skin is visible across the left side of his abdomen and chest. And there's a deep gash on his right shoulder, still bleeding.

The bloody wound will have to be my priority now. I can't tell if he's sustained internal damage, but he probably has, judging by the weak state he's in.

I mold chakra in the palms of my hands and place them over the wound. Hooking my ankle around the leg of a stool, I bring it closer so I can sit, without removing my hands from him.

I can feel it when the bleeding ceases. It takes about fifteen minutes, and about half my chakra. I continue for another five minutes, making sure the wound won't open up very easily unless he moves, and then I go to find the salve I used to use for victims of burns. I hope I still have some left. I'll put the salve on after cleaning him up a little bit. The medicine cabinet is in the kitchen, which is a room separate from the bedroom. I'm fumbling around in the cabinet when I hear sense movement from behind me.

I whirl around to see the man standing at the doorway, leaning heavily on the door frame.

"What are you _doing_?" I yelp, nearly dropping the bottle I hold him my hand. Panicked, I run toward him and notice that the wound has opened up again. A tremor of fear courses through my body as I near him, but I swallow my fear and help him back into bed.

Suddenly I notice that his left eye, the one with the scar, is different from his right. It must be a kekkei genkai, one that would surely identify him as a dangerous ninja. I'll have to get him to keep the mask on if I ever leave the house, because if anyone see that they'll realize he's a danger and attempt to kill him.

"Where am I?" he mutters, wincing in pain as I begin healing his shoulder wound again. I don't answer right away, and suddenly his hand grabs my left wrist. Just as quickly, I draw a kunai and press it to his throat. His eyes widen.

"I'm trying to help you," I hiss. "Don't make this difficult."

His grip on my wrist loosens, and he winces again in pain.

I sigh and slide the kunai back into the little pocket against my thigh. "You're in the refugee camp of the survivors of the Land of the Sky."


	2. The Plight of the Sky

His eyes widen. "The Land of the Sky? I … I don't understand."

I don't get to hear what exactly it is he doesn't understand, because just then he inhales sharply in pain.

"What is it?" I demand. "Where are you hurting?"

He is breathing heavily. "I … don't know. It seems to be my heart … but I'm not sure."

"Don't move," I warn him, and I rush to the washroom, moistening a washcloth. I come back to his side and mop up his face first. His eyes flutter shut, and despite myself, I revel in how comely this man is. I scrub the blood off the side of his face with more force than I intend, punishing him for making me feel weak.

The cloth is already dirty, and making trips back and forth is a waste of time. I grab a small basin I usually use to wash my face in the mornings and fill it with water, bringing it back to the bedroom. I rinse off the washcloth and carefully wipe around the shoulder wound.

"Are you a medical-nin?"

"No," I say, "I only know the basics of medical ninjutsu. What happened here? Is this really a burn?" I gesture toward the patch of angry red skin.

"Burned by … lightening."

I don't voice my confusion. Instead, I go back to the kitchen and grab the salve. The top layer has hardened slightly by oxidation, and I remove it with my finger and wash it off in the sink. I walk back to him and begin to smear the salve on the burn.

There's no doubt that he's an adept ninja. There's no doubt that he's dangerous. So why am I helping him recover instead of killing him while he's weak?

I should kill him. The lives of all my friends and family are at stake here, as opposed to this one stranger, who has probably killed hundreds of innocents. After all, Konoha ninja are as ruthless as they are strong.

"What's your name?" I ask, mostly for the sake of preventing myself from deciding to kill him. I finish with the burn and start mopping around the bloody wound again.

He hesitates.

"I already know you're from Konoha," I tell him, "so telling me who you are isn't really going to be a big deal."

"Hatake Kakashi. You threw away my forehead protector?"

The name means nothing to me. "Yes, I did. But with your …" I gesture toward his eye, "it's going to be difficult to hide the fact that you're from Konoha. When I'm out of the house, or if anyone comes in, you must put your mask on immediately. And if anyone asks, you're from the Land of Lightening."

Kakashi is silent for a moment, but his eyes don't leave mine.

"How are you Sky Ninja still alive?"

Oh, so _that's_ what he was wondering about. Of course it was. I dunk the cloth in the water and redo the edges of the wound. There's simply too much blood to finish it off with one time.

"We're a hardy group of people," I reply shortly. The way he's watching me is beginning to make me feel warm – uncomfortable, I correct myself. But what's the point of keeping this piece of information from him? He already knows where we are. He already knows how to wipe us all out. I sigh as I rinse off the cloth again. "A few of us escaped. Not all of us were in line with Shinno and some of us guessed that Konoha might return to destroy our nation's people, just to finish off the job."

"Then why?" he asks softly. "Why did you save me?"

_I'm not a killer. Not like you Konoha ninja. _

But I don't say that. "Call it a stroke of your luck. But you should work hard to maintain that luck. You won't be going anywhere for at least two days."

"It'll take longer than that for me to heal," he mutters darkly, and most likely to himself, so I don't respond. But inside, I'm hoping fervently that he gets better quickly so he can leave without being discovered.

Because if the rest of the villagers find out, he would be killed in seconds.

I sleep outside on a mat. I have extra blankets, thank goodness, and I keep the bedroom door open in case Kentaro decides to come back and kill Kakashi off himself … or if Kakashi tries to contact Konoha.

I'm a relatively light sleeper, and I don't hear anything suspicious during the night.

The only thing that worries me is the sounds of wild dogs outside – I don't hear any screams from the villagers, but the barking sounds too close to home. I'll check it out in the morning.

Dawn approaches, and I hear a sudden thud from the bedroom.

I'm up in an instant, and I rush into the room to find Kakashi on the floor, on his knees and struggling to push himself up to a standing position.

"What are you doing?" I chastise him, and pull his left arm around me, working hard not to come into contact with the burn. It looks a bit better than yesterday, which is a huge relief. His shoulder, however, doesn't look good.

He looks embarrassed. "I needed to use the washroom."

I laugh quietly, not at the fact that he's but a human, but rather at the embarrassed expression on his face. It's rather endearing, to my surprise, and I get the feeling that he isn't used to being dependent on anybody.

He leans heavily on me as we hobble to the washroom. I make sure he is stable, leaning on the counter before I close the door behind me.

"Call me when you're done," I say, and walk to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

I take out three eggs from the fridge, one of the few we managed to salvage from a ruined village a few miles from here. There's been just enough food for everyone, and each person does a bit for the community, raising a few chickens or herding the dairy cows and sheep on the mountainside one evening a week. I myself have the largest vegetable patch, and I'm able to provide about a third of the vegetables necessary.

There's cooking oil and small necessities like salt and sugar from anonymous trades with villages, but there's certainly not enough to waste. I pour a small amount of oil onto a pan and flick on the stove. I manage to finish frying two of them and put both sunny-side up on one plate when I hear the toilet flush. I give him a few moments to wash his hands as I bring the plates to the dining table and place two forks on the table, but then I hear the door click open.

"I thought I told you to call me," I scold my patient, rushing to his side. Kakashi gives me a rueful smile. "We're going to the kitchen," I tell him, and I set him down in the chair beside the table. There's just the one chair there, because I usually dine alone, so I bring out the stool from the bedroom. Then I finish frying the third egg and dump it on a second plate.

When I turn back to the table, I notice Kakashi hasn't even touched the food.

"What's wrong? Do you not like eggs?" I ask anxiously. There's not much else, other than badly-baked bread, which can just barely be choked down with raspberry jam.

"Isn't it rude to begin a meal without the host?" he smiles at me. I roll my eyes despite myself, but I can't hold back a small smile in return.

"Well, you can begin now," I say. We eat for a few minutes in silence.

Kakashi finishes first, even though he has two eggs.

"Still hungry?" I ask. "I have some bread, but it's not particularly tasty."

"No, I'm fine," he says, but I frown. He needs the food to recover, and I just don't have anything that is suitable for a patient at this time. After I put him back to bed, I might go out and try to find something for him to eat. "I never got to thank you for your actions," he says, cutting through my thoughts. His mismatched gaze is oddly alluring. _Captivating_, at the very least. "I probably would have died if it wasn't for you."

I stare at this man in front of me. He must be one of the most handsome men I have ever seen. He is strong, and he seems to be kind despite being from Konoha. He doesn't seem too much older than my twenty-three years. If he had been from any other place, I would have considered him an ideal candidate for a husband. Why must he be from the one country whose people have been the reason for our plight for the two generations now?

"I want to help you," he says, so low that it's almost a whisper. "I want to help your people. The people of Konoha are not heartless. We do not aim to kill the innocent. If you would let me, I would speak with the Hokage and convince her to send aid."

"Your Hokage is a ruthless tyrant!" I spit out. "She feared us, though we were weak, and she ordered our destruction!"

Kakashi's face is pale. "We heard of a threat. A threat that the Sora-nin were growing stronger, and quickly. In the end, it was true, was it not?"

The way he speaks seems to be sincere – he really wants to know our side of the story. I stare at my hands as I begin to speak. "Shinno was a radical, and a clever one at that. He used our pent-up desire for revenge to convince the more naïve Sora-nin to join him, but most of us were unwilling to participate in such an extreme and dangerous nightmare." My hands clench. "But you Konoha ninja came in, and you slaughtered our people, innocent or not. You didn't care. My _pregnant mother_ was killed, because she couldn't escape as quickly. My father nearly died trying to save her." I look up at him again, register his look of shock. "And now you ask us to forgive and accept help from the very hands that killed our friends and family members?"

There is silence, and Kakashi's face is void of emotion.

Suddenly, he stiffens. "There's someone at your door," he tells me, and sure enough, a few seconds later, there's a loud knock.

I rush back to the bedroom and come out with the mask in my hand.

"Quick, put the mask on!"

I try to help him to minimize damage to his shoulder, but I suddenly hear the intruder come into my house. My heart jumps, panicked. I shift so that my body covers Kakashi's face should anyone enter the kitchen.

"What have you done, Mirai?" comes an anguished but hushed exclamation from the doorway.

I relax in relief. "It's just my sister," I whisper to Kakashi.

His mask is on, but it's out of place because his upper body is bare, so I help him remove it once again before turning to my younger sister.

Tsubasa is the kind of girl who all other girls envy. She's got the body I've always wished I had and curves I never really developed. Her eyes are large and framed with thick eyelashes, and her hair is darker than a raven's feathers. She can't fight whatsoever, but the way she looks has always protected her. There's always been something about her that's suggested frailty and delicacy, something that most people want to protect. Far from attracting trouble, she's only attracted luck and happiness for herself.

"Tsubasa, don't yell," I chastise, "he's very ill."

Tsubasa is fuming mad. She's very rarely this way; she's usually quite even-tempered, and though I've been called that too, she's much less temperamental than me.

"Don't yell? _Don't yell?_" she hisses vehemently. "Do you know what you've gotten us into? We could all be dead by tomorrow! 'Mirai*' … well, you're only erasing all the hope we've got for _our_ futures!"

Coldness envelops me. She doesn't even know yet that he's from Konoha. Could this man, despite what he's said, turn on us and destroy what little hope we have for a life with no more violence?

She pushes me to the side with surprising force, but I only move because I don't resist.

"Who are you?" she snarls at Kakashi. "Why are you here?"

I turn, listening as Kakashi answers. "I'm not here to harm any of you," he says slowly and warily, the way I would approach an injured animal. "I will leave if that's what you wish."

"No!" I say before I can stop myself. "You're hardly better than you were yesterday."

"No," Tsubasa breathes, and I turn to her in surprise. She doesn't usually sound like this … what's going on with her? "No, you can't leave. If you leave, our secret is out."

She turns to me. She doesn't say anything else, but the meaning is clear from the look in her eyes, and it brings chills to my skin even after she is gone.

_He has to die_.

*Mirai – Japanese feminine name meaning "future"

Hi guys! I meant to put this chapter up right after the first, but it took me longer than expected to finish it, so here's the information you might be wondering about. 

The Land of the Sky was mentioned in one of the Naruto movies (which, by the way, I haven't watched, so please tell me if there are any inconsistencies – I've only read the Wiki summary), and it was destroyed by Konoha twice, as mentioned in the story. This led me to think, if they didn't manage to wipe everyone out the first time, then why not the second? Which led to the creation of this little refugee village. 

So another issue is Kakashi. This is my first time writing a Kakashi-centric fanfic. I used to write on Quizilla about Neji, but never Kakashi. I'm trying to keep him in character, or at least what he would do in this situation. Obviously he's quite shocked by all that's going on, and quite physically weak, but if anyone has any criticisms / suggestions about how I can make him seem more in character, I would really be grateful if you could share your ideas. It's a bit difficult to show what he's thinking right now – and trust me, you'll see soon what he's planning and what he's done already without Mirai noticing – because I prefer first-person when writing with OCs, so with some parts you may need to exercise patience. I _will_ attempt to explain everything, but if you realize something is still missing in like 6 more chapters, please tell me. 

Hope you're enjoying the story so far :) Please review – I do not mind criticism. In fact, I welcome it with open arms. :)

-Jennifer


	3. The Hope That Comes With Desperation

In two days, Kakashi is able to walk. He was able to make his way to the washroom and then to the breakfast table, albeit slowly and painfully, at which time I scolded him for pushing himself too hard.

He merely smiles. "I'm a quick healer. You don't need to worry about me, Mirai."

The sound of my name on his lips gives me a slight tingle, and I chastise myself silently – what am I, a teenager in love?

_In love?_ I recoil from the thought in horror. No, what a ludicrous thought. This man, a sworn enemy to every one of my friends and family members, is someone who I've only known for a few short days, and whose personality I have yet to decipher. The way he's been acting now may very likely be nothing but a ruse to win my trust and my support for him. I have no proof whatsoever that he is truly what he says he is, and what he has been acting as.

But … I hesitate to judge him harshly. I spoke with him two nights ago, after returning from trading food with the other villagers, none of whom are aware that I harbor an enemy, and it wasn't just the words he said that make me skeptical of any evil plot. It's also the way he said everything, with a cool, calm, yet confident tone.

We don't mention the history between our nations again, though I know that it's heavy on both our minds and hearts.

The only thing I remain concerned about is that he isn't willing to reveal how he managed to come so close to discovering us on his own. The lack of evidence of a battle at the location at which I found him has haunted me. But he could not have been injured so badly and travelled a long distance, and surely he would not speak of his nation with any sort of pride if they hurt him so to accomplish a mission and to trick very much suspecting villagers. It would not make sense if his appearance here was a ploy to win our trust, and it would be a serious miscalculation at that. If more villagers find out, Kakashi's life will not be long. I can only conclude that he was not intentionally seeking us out, and that he is telling the truth when he says he didn't come to harm us.

"How are you feeling?" I ask him as I place a plate of sliced fruit between us. There are apples and pears, the two most common fruits we find around here.

"I am improving," he says. "But always so tired."

He has taken to wearing his sweater, which I've sewn back up, and his mask, which he pulls down to eat a slice of pear.

"Do you usually wear that mask?" I inquire out of sheer curiosity. I've noticed that he has somewhat quick movements when it comes to concealing his face, especially when I come into the bedroom in the morning. There's an instinctive fluidity that convinces me he has long since become accustomed to hiding his face.

He looks up at me in surprise. "Yes. You're really one of the few people alive who has ever seen my face," he says with a slight smile. "Not even my students have seen me unmasked, and trust me when I say they've tried."

He probably expects me to laugh along, but I'm shocked by the casual air with which he says this. How could someone say he or she really knew you without having seen your face? The face is the key to deciphering a person.

But for a ninja, that probably wasn't something that was desired. Familiarity. Ties. Love. Because that was a weakness, and weaknesses are exploited. Even our Sora-nin, who were trained only for a short while in the basics of fighting, even they were secretive. Families noticed the change immediately.

Kakashi's face now is concerned. His gaze wordlessly asks, _What's wrong?_

I shake my head. "I'm just … reminiscing," I lie. A slight crease appears on his brow, but he merely picks up another slice of fruit.

"My father returns tonight," I tell him suddenly, knowing the length of his usual trips. Salvaging valuables from ruins. Something flickers in Kakashi's eyes, but I don't know what it is. "He's the leader of our refugee camp, and he may not take kindly to your presence."

That's the biggest understatement I've ever uttered or heard. Keiji will be furious beyond belief, knowing in particular that it was I, his daughter, who committed such a crime. But I know my father will not go to extremes with me, and that the only threat is to Kakashi.

"You don't need to worry about me," he says, an echo of what he's said before.

"You don't understand," I insist, suddenly becoming aware of how little time I have left with this man. He needs to flee, and he needs to do so before Keiji arrives home. "You must remember, Keiji lost the love of his life to Konoha ninja." A whisper of tension develops between us as I tread in forbidden territory. I lower my voice. "My father is not weak like I am. He will not hesitate to kill you. And his strength is considerable."

"And _you_, Mirai? What about you? Don't you fear the consequences that you will have to suffer?" Kakashi says, voice equally quiet. His eyes are again intent on mine, a look that burns and smolders and warms. A look I'll never forget.

"Keiji is my father. My family."

A dark look flashes in his eyes, but he doesn't speak against me. I appreciate that, because even with what little that he's voiced, a note of panic is rising in my chest. Yes, I have considered Kakashi's fate and how he can leave unscathed from here, but not how I will be seen by the other villagers, and certainly not what will happen once Kakashi is gone. He hasn't promised to keep our village's existence a secret, despite me having brought it up once.

"You need to leave before night falls," I say bluntly.

Kakashi searches my eyes. He doesn't seem to find what he is looking for. "I can do that," he says finally with a sigh.

I should be relieved, so what is this feeling of desolation in my heart?

I force myself to leave the house to do the chores I usually do: weeding the garden, watering the crops, picking fruit from the mountainside, and collecting herbs from the forest. Herbs are my duty solely in the village; taught by my mother, I am the only one able to recognize poisonous plants and distinguish them from plants used to make salves.

But excuses fill my head. _We have enough herbs to last a month. The recent rain has moistened the soil adequately. _And in the end, I only come back arms heavily laden with fruits. I plan to weed the garden after putting the fruits away.

Kentaro lets me in wordlessly, but he gives me a glare. He still hasn't gotten over the fact that Kakashi is here.

A young child, one of the few infants born in the refuge, comes up to me an tugs my sleeve, asking for a peach. I smile at him and pick out the three ripest ones.

"Give the other two to your friends, okay?"

He nods and runs off.

As I walk towards my house, I notice a small creature in front of me. It seems to be a little brown dog with black ears, but strangely, there's a blue coat over him. I frown – could this dog possibly be related to the wild dogs that I heard days ago? But those barks were low, and this tiny dog couldn't possibly make those noises. And he couldn't belong to anyone in the village, because the only dogs in the village are used to herd the cows and sheep, and those are all enormous beasts.

He's sniffing the ground, and as we near my house, he seems to notice me and jumps in surprise. There's intelligence in those eyes.

I smile at him as I push open the door to my house and set the fruits down on my counter. I pick out two more peaches, one for Kakashi and one for myself. As I turn back, a little flash of brown fur streaks into Kakashi's room, to my surprise, and I follow the dog hastily, frowning. What I see then shocks me.

The dog jumps onto the bed and faces Kakashi intently.

"Tsunade-hime and the others will be here in a few hours," a low gravelly voice says.

It comes from the dog.

With a gasp, the peaches fall from my hands.

Both Kakashi and the dog turn in my direction.

"You've led them straight here?" I breathe, the panic full-blown now. "The … the Hokage … she's coming _here_?"

How could he do this, after all this time? He even offered to _help_ us – I should have known it wasn't true.

_Ah, _the nasty voice of my subconscious says, _but you did, didn't you? You knew he was dangerous, that he could bring ruin upon everyone you cared about … but you were too busy ogling that handsome face. You knew all along, and you didn't act responsibly at all. _

Kakashi's face is pained. "Mirai … it's not like that –"

"How much time?" I demand. "At least let me get the children out of the village. They deserve a life. They deserve to live."

"Mirai, no!"

But I'm already in the kitchen, ready to head out. I can't waste time here.

My hand is almost on the doorknob, but suddenly Kakashi is in front of me, blocking my way. My gasp is loud in the deafening silence.

I run for the kitchen window, the largest window in my house, but suddenly he's there, blocking my way again.

So fast. I won't be able to make it out of the house if he keeps on doing this.

As I turn, Kakashi suddenly grabs my wrist.

"They're not here to kill," he tells me quietly. "They're here to get me out, and two jounins will stay here secretly to help protect the village."

It's too much to hope for. It's too good to believe. It's the kind of hope that comes with desperation.

But I grab the lifeline that's being offered to me.

"They're … here to help?"

"Yes," says a voice from behind Kakashi. It's the dog. Sensing that I have little desire to flee now, Kakashi releases my hand hastily. "Tsunade-hime is only here to heal Kakashi's internal injuries. And she has been very concerned about your village's welfare."

But the thought of the Hokage here to _help_ us is too much for me to accept. To our people she has always been a taboo – the reason we are suffering now. And the Third Hokage was the one who destroyed our homeland.

"Mirai, this is Pakkun, a ninken. He's one of my summons."

Something clicks in my head. "There are other dogs, aren't there? Bigger dogs than this one. I heard them that first night."

"Yes," Kakashi admits. "I summoned them to scout the area for me. They found this –" he holds up his forehead protector, the one I tossed away to help conceal his identity, "and made sure there were no immediate threats to your village."

I'm suddenly aware of how close our bodies are pressed together, and I extricate myself hastily.

"Promise me you won't harm the villagers," I whisper.

"I promise," Kakashi says solemnly and without hesitation.

They're only words, but I cling onto them for dear life. If what I've done brings harm to anyone in the village, I don't know how I'd live. The children here have suffered enough already and to end their lives like this would be beyond cruelty.

Suddenly there's a knock at my door.

"Tsubasa must be back again," I say, still gazing up at Kakashi. "She's not usually one to take initiative and be persistent, but …"

"It's not a woman," Pakkun says suddenly. "I think I should go, Kakashi-kun."

Kakashi nods, and the dog disappears in a puff of smoke.

"What does he mean, it's not a woman?" I demand.

"He means it's not your sister out there."

As my eyes widen and my heartbeat quickens, the unmistakable voice of my father roars.

"_Open the door Mirai, or we'll break it down!_"

Third chapter! And I don't feel tired of this story yet ^^ Pakkun is so adorable, I had to include him here, too (he was in Tears of Snow, which you can find here:  s/8430667/1/, if anyone's reading that. Mind you, I am a bit tired of _that_ story, even though I haven't gotten to the good parts yet T_T Maybe I aimed too high in trying to make it a really long and drawn-out fanfic. As you can probably already see, The Remnants of the Sky is a bit more fast-paced than Tears of Snow. That's due in part to the fact that Mirai isn't really a ninja, so I don't have to explain her skills. Speaking of that, the reason Mirai isn't a ninja is because I thought that if she was, she'd have to have skills comparable to Kakashi, and that's damn hard and somewhat unbelievable. So, you'd better get used to the fact that she's not a ninja, and she won't turn out to be either. :S The helplessness is intentional. :D 

Hope at least some of you are enjoying this story. As always, please _**review**_ and _**follow**_ if you like, and _**favourite**_ if you _really_ like! :) Cheers, everyone!

-Jennifer


	4. The Shinobi of Konoha

My eyes widen in horror.

How is he back already? And without so much as a warning!

"Leave," I say frantically to Kakashi. "Leave now!"

But he shakes his head. "I'm staying with you."

My heart is too panicked to flutter at his words. And suddenly, I hear the crash of splintering wood – they must have knocked my door down.

I whirl around to see my father and three other men of the village. They are wielding axes and spears and they wear expressions of fearful disgust.

"Mirai, you idiot girl!" my father yells. "Get out of the way!"

From our previous confrontation, Kakashi is still standing between me and the window, with my father directly in front of me. He makes no move to lower the axe.

My father's face is beyond enraged.

I try to swallow my fear. I can't let Kakashi die after all I've risked to save him.

"Father, stop. He's not here to harm us. He's trying to help our village."

"Of course he'd say that," Keiji snarls. He raises the axe. "Get out of the way! You'll get your punishment later."

"Father," I beg, my eyes beseeching. "Please, Father, control your anger! If you do this, you'll regret it later!"

"That's it," he says, "this is your last warning, Mirai!" To my horrified shock, he raises the axe.

And suddenly Kakashi has thrown me behind him as he faces off with my father. "I don't want to hurt any of you," he says in a low and serious voice, so full of warning that I don't protest that he's in danger. He has put his mask and – to my horror – his Konoha forehead protector.

There are hisses from the men. "You're a Konoha shinobi?" one of them snarls. "Kill him!" another one cries.

And I feel, almost imperceptibly, a small sigh from Kakashi. His arm raises, obscuring my view and he pulls his mask down slightly.

There are gasps from the men, and I realize Kakashi has uncovered his strange red eye.

Even my father takes a hasty step backwards. "You're … you're Hatake Kakashi! The Sh-Sharingan master!"

There's a sudden disturbance in the air – something that changes. And when I look again, all four men before Kakashi are staring blankly into space, weapons lowered.

"What have you done?" I whisper.

"They're under a genjutsu." He turns to me, pulling his mask back up, but not before I catch a glimpse of his eye. It's different than before. "We've got to get out of here. The genjustsu will come undone in a few minutes."

I nod, but then I actually process his words. "_We?_"

"You're not staying here," he says sharply, and without so much as another word, he throws me on his back.

I yelp in surprise, but there's little time to register my shock – I grab onto his shoulders quickly as he jumps out the window and makes for the gates.

"You won't be able to make it through! They won't open the gates for you!"

But my doubts are silenced when he begins to run vertically up the wall. I hardly dare breathe – I'm half scared to death.

We make it to the forest without any sound of pursuers, and it's both exhilarating and terrifying as he leaps through tangles of branches, dodging every single obstacle with ease. I can't imagine that I'm easy to carry, either.

Suddenly, there's a misstep in his rhythmical movements, and a moment later the impact hits and my shoulder is numb. Both of us are sprawled in the dirt.

"Kakashi! Are you all right?" I crawl to his side. He's wincing, but he quickly pushes himself to his feet.

"I'm fine."

He puts his thumb to his mouth, and before I can protest, he bites the pad of his thumb hard enough to draw blood. Then he presses the cut to the ground.

With another puff of smoke, Pakkun appears. "I know," the dog says. "Tokuma-kun is with us. His Byakugan has a wide radius. They'll be here in a minute or so." Pakkun's head turns to me. "You're bringing the girl along?"

"Only temporarily," I tell the dog hastily. "I'm going back to the village as soon as you're in safe hands," I say to Kakashi.

The dog looks as surprised as a dog can. He sits on his haunches, head cocked.

Kakashi seems to sigh, hand reaching behind him to scratch the back of his head. "How to put it to you … Mirai, you need to accept that I'm very much capable of taking care of myself. Your father never posed a threat to me."

He's right – the truth dawns on me, and it's almost frightening. Over the past three days I've become so accustomed to taking care of this man and thinking that he needs me that, even now that I've seen him take out four of the strongest men in our village, I haven't yet been convinced that he doesn't need me. Not even in his weakened state.

"I … All right," I say unevenly. "I guess I'll just go now…?" My sentence finishes with a question hanging, because I don't understand what he means. Does he want me to go or stay? And just then I realize that this may be the last time I see this man. The last time I'll be able to look into his – well, only one of his eyes, and talk to him.

"Kakashi, just spit it out," says the dog impatiently. "They're almost here and you don't want to keep the Princess waiting."

Kakashi glances at Pakkun, and then turns back to me. "Mirai, I'd like for you to come with me to Konoha."

::~::

It takes a moment for his words to register.

"What?" I say dumbly when they finally process. "I don't … why would I?"

"Your father will not hesitate to kill _you_." His voice is cold, and it sends a shiver straight through me. An instantaneous denial rises to my lips, but I remember the expression on my father's face just before Kakashi pulled me out of the way.

_He's right. _

"You don't know that for sure," I whisper, even though my hands are cold with dread.

The dark look in his eye is enough to make me fall silent. "I'd like you to come with me," he repeats, and this time is voice is stronger. Final.

It's temptation – the thought of getting out of this place and going somewhere with Kakashi. But I have duties. Responsibilities.

"There are villagers depending on me. I'm the only one who knows the herbs. I'm the only one who can make the salves correctly." _And Tsubasa needs me, whether she knows it or not. _

"And what use will you be to them when your father kills you for disobedience? For saving my life?" His tone is blunt. Unfeeling. I stare – what just happened? What happened to the care and compassion in his voice?

"I …"

"This is final, Mirai. I'm not leaving you here."

The words sound oddly familiar, but I don't get much of a chance to think about it, because just then both Pakkun and Kakashi look up.

"Ah, Tsunade-sama. As silent as usual."

I look up, too, and my heart skips a beat when I see no less than five Konoha shinobi, coming out from behind the trees.

There are three women and three men, and a buxom blonde steps forward. She has a young-looking face, but there's a sense of gravity and seriousness that contradicts her youthful appearance. My hands grow even colder. This must be the Hokage.

"You didn't mention you would have company," she says accusingly. "Tokuma was surprised and we slowed down."

Kakashi gives a rueful smile and opens his mouth to speak, but suddenly a boy with bright yellow hair runs to his side.

"Sensei, are you okay?" he demands. "We heard that something went wrong and demanded to come with Granny."

So this boy must be one of his students. A girl with pink hair steps forward as well, hitting the blond boy on the head.

"Naruto!" she scowls. "Stop pestering him. He needs to be healed and we need to go immediately. But … you _are_ okay, right sensei?" she says worriedly.

Kakashi turns back to me and addresses the Hokage. "This is Mirai. She's the one who saved me. She's … in a bit of danger right now, and I offered for her to come to Konoha." The Hokage's face changes almost imperceptibly, but I catch the slight trace of emotion. It's fear. "After all, the correspondence should prove to be beneficial for the relationship between our villages."

Oh … so that was the _real_ reason. To make me sort of a figurehead of this whole operation. It wasn't exactly a selfish operation, so I had little to complain about – the futures of my people were at stake here – but I had thought maybe, just maybe … it had been something more than politics. Something more personal …

The Hokage stares long and hard at me before striding over to Kakashi. "Healing first and talking later. I can tell your internal injuries are more serious than you're letting on."

My surprise owing both to the fact that this woman can make a medical assessment before even physically touching him and that he's apparently severely injured, I watch as Kakashi unbuttons his vest and lifts up his blue sweater. Then I blush, realizing that I had been staring.

"I expect Shizune is back home doing the paperwork in your place?" I hear Kakashi murmur in an undertone. "I'll brief you about what happened later – I'll need to tell Shikaku, and probably Naruto and Sakura as well …"

"Hi, are you doing all right?" says the pink-haired girl. Sakura. She's smiling politely at me. She looks as if she's a bit younger than me – certainly still in her teens. I nod automatically, even though a headache is starting to come on. "I'm Sakura, and if you need any help with injuries, you can just tell me. I'm a medical-nin."

"All right," I say, surprised at her openness. "Thank you."

"Right then," I hear the Hokage say. _She's already done healing him? _Sure enough, Kakashi is stretching and buttoning up his vest, seeming at complete ease. He seems to notice my gaze, and I turn away as he looks in my direction. "Tokuma, Kiyomi, you two can head to the village. Make sure to keep undercover, and if you must appear, don't reveal you're from Konoha."

With a start, I realize Kakashi is right beside me. "You don't need to worry," he murmurs, "Tokuma is a Hyuuga, which means he has the Byakugan." I look more closely, and I realize with shock his eyes are entirely a lilac colour, with no irises. The man is slight, with long brown hair tied behind him. "He's able to see through anything and can see up to a two-kilometer radius. He's quite an adept fighter too." He gestures at the dark-haired woman. "And our Kiyomi is probably the last of the Yuki clan, of Yukigakure. She is also a healer, but her strengths lie mostly in her ability to fight. They're both jounin, and the two of them make a good team." His voice is low and sincere.

"Thank you," I say. I'd never thought this day would come – the day I thank a Konoha ninja, knowing that he has helped my village. "Thank you so much," I say, voice cracking a little. Maybe there is hope for my village – and not just a hope without reason, either. Kakashi glances at me one last time before placing a hand on my shoulder gently.

Tokuma and Kiyomi leave the group, speeding through the underbrush with the same agility and grace I'd noticed Kakashi possessed.

"And we should go too. Kakashi, if you're well enough, you should carry the girl," the Hokage says dismissively. "I'll be in the lead. Sakura, Kakashi, and lastly Naruto will follow."

He'll be carrying me again? I blush, and suddenly notice that his two students are smirking none-too-discreetly.

Kakashi rolls his eye at them and beckons to me.

"Are you sure you're okay? I mean, you probably still need some time to rest up, and …" My protests are only met with silence from him and an outbreak of snickers from his students. I realize it's best just to shut up. My face must be beet-red as I climb onto his back, my legs around his waist.

And soon we're off again, tearing through the forest at a terrifying speed. The journey is made mostly in silence, with occasional conversation breaking out between the Konoha shinobi about little events in the village. I feel myself becoming drawn into their little stories – I realize that they're just the same as us, with friends and families and love of their homeland.

Father always said I was too easily convinced of things others said. But what they're saying now all adds up and makes sense, and what I'm seeing is humanity in the Konoha ninja, the kind that I've always strived for. The way Kakashi's two students anxiously asked after how he was and how the girl offered to help me if I needed it … the ninja from Konoha aren't as bad as we make them out to be. Even the Hokage, despite her coolness toward me, is still civil and I have a feeling that it didn't take much to convince her to help our village. I sense no reluctance.

The result of my thinking and a slight motion sickness as we go through the forest at an insanely fast speed is a growing headache that soon begins to make me lose concentration.

When we stop, it's past noon, but none of the ninja seem tired. Tsunade says that we will set out at dusk, and that everyone should rest up for now.

They bring out cup ramen, something I haven't seen for years, and thermoses full of hot water. The boy, Naruto, seems to love ramen and can hardly wait the prescribed three minutes for the noodles to stew in the water. I smile when I see it, and Sakura notices, rolling her eyes in response.

The ramen tastes better than I expect – I haven't had hot food for a long time. And the taste of chicken in the soup, dehydrated and tiny as it is, is like heaven. We don't slaughter our chickens and sheep for food very often, because there are just so few of them.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you sure you don't want more?" I hear Sakura ask. "You need more food to recover faster."

Kakashi can eat pretty quickly, and I smile, seeing that his mask is on, despite having just finished his meal.

"Hey, hey," says a voice beside me. I turn and see the boy named Naruto. He has a secretive, conspiratorial air about him right now, and he sneaks glances at his sensei. "Are you and Kakashi-sensei…" He interlocks his fingers, repressing fits of laughter "You know, together?"

I blush, surprised. "I …"

I'm saved when Kakashi suddenly appears behind Naruto.

"That's not really any of your business, is it now?" he says, eye crinkling into a smile, even as Naruto pales visibly and gulps.

"Of c-course not," Naruto stammers, laughing nervously. "S-Sakura-chan!" he calls out suddenly, and races off to talk to her.

"Sorry about him," Kakashi says to me. "Naruto always asks too much and thinks too little. He's a good kid, though. Both of them are." He sounds a little wistful. "But I came to tell you that you should go to sleep. I heard you had a headache?"

My eyes widen. Did … the Hokage tell him that? She can tell, even having barely glanced at me? "A little bit," I admit, but it's a huge understatement.

"You should sleep," he says. "I'm on a break too – the three of them will be on guard duty." I glance skeptically at his two students – Sakura is yelling at Naruto, having just hit him upside the head with a ladle. Kakashi looks slightly embarrassed. "Well, at least Tsunade will make sure nothing goes wrong."

I nod at him, suddenly aware how close we are, in a private little bubble.

He leads me to the base of a tree, and we sit, backs against the trunk, shoulders touching slightly. I'm surprised by the contact, but I don't move away and neither does he. The spot and the position are comfortable enough, but for the slight chill that sets a little shiver and goosebumps rise across my skin.

Kakashi doesn't miss it.

In one swift movement, his arm is around my shoulder, and I'm pressed against his warm body. I inhale sharply in surprise, and he seems to be somewhat stiff as well, but he doesn't move or draw his arm away.

A few seconds pass – maybe even a few minutes – before I relax. That brings me closer to him, and soon I'm cautiously resting my head on his shoulder. It takes him longer to relax. But when I'm almost asleep, I feel his head rest gently against mine.

I smile, and drift into a peaceful oblivion.

Hello my fluffy bunnies of goodness and happiness! Thanks for reading the fourth chapter of RS. Ahh, this was probably somewhat predictable (that he's asking her to come to Konoha) but oh well, right? How would the story incorporate fluff otherwise ^^ ?

Yes, and this Kiyomi is the Kiyomi in Tears of Snow. She's making a cameo here :D I'm sorry I'm not updating Tears of Snow very quickly – I meant for TS to be my main project, and RS to be a side project, but since I started RS, it's been like an obsession to write about … and besides, it seems like very few people like TS, even though I have way more chapters for it than RS T-T

Something I noticed: My litte " *** " things that indicate a scene change/pause aren't showing at all in my previous chapters, so in this chapter I'm beginning to use " ::~:: " instead, the one I used in my Jem fanfic (Infernal Devices series). Hopefully this works out, and I'll go back to change my old ones T-T. Being the technological failure I am, I don't know how to do the line breaks – if any of you can help me, please PM me about it :D

YOWZAH. FOUR CHAPTERS DOWN AND STILL GOING STRONG. 

Support me by reviewing and following and favouriting if you _really_ like! :) 

-Jennifer *HUGS TO ALL*


	5. The Gaze Towards the Future

_There's nothing but darkness. _

_The walls are closing in on me. _

_Suffocating darkness. _

_My fingers scrabble at the wooden planks, the metal rods … the beam that's crushing my leg. An iron nail cuts into my fingers and I can feel blood on the tips of my fingers. But this pain is nothing. _

_Nothing compared to the frantic heartbeat that I can hear and feel, pounding in my breast. I haven't been so frightened since I was a child, alone after waking from a nightmare. _

_Suddenly, an explosion!_

_I scream, hands over my neck. _

_Bright, blinding light – not white, but blood-red and onyx. _

_I can see our Sora-nin on the ground, but then I realize it's not them. What I see … merely bodies. Corpses. _

_I scream again, and suddenly I see the face of a Konoha ninja, fierce and unrelenting as he knocks over a young Sora-nin. _

_I know her. _

_She's only sixteen, and her face is filled with terror as the shinobi stabs the kunai into her body, and the terror never leaves. She falls over, onto her back with a grotesquely stunning grace, the very beauty of it a mockery of her needless death. _

_I scramble to my feet, limping as I pull a useless left leg along. I fall over, scratch the palms of my hands, rise, and fall again. _

"_Tsubasa!" I scream. "Mother! Father! Kiyosho!"_

_I am met with the hush of shrieks and deafening silence. _

_Fatigue pulls my body down, and the ground reaches out to catch my fall. But the earth betrays me and it swallows me whole. _

::~::

I jerk awake instantly.

There's someone beside me. Against me.

"Mirai?" Kakashi murmurs. He must have already been awake. "What's wrong?"

I blink, eyes adjusting to the dim light of the forest. It must be late afternoon already, so I've slept for a good few hours. It takes me a few moments to actually process that Kakashi asks, and when I contemplate it, I can't remember. It must have been a nightmare.

All I can remember is a suffocating darkness. The embrace of the earth.

I shake my head. "Nothing," I lie, but it's a small lie. I wouldn't know what to say, anyways.

"Are you two ready to go?" Sakura calls from a few meters away. She's shouldering a backpack and smiling.

Kakashi helps me up, and I'm slightly unsteady on my feet. "Thanks," I smile at him.

The Hokage is staring off into the forest, and Naruto is beside Sakura, whispering something to her. They both chortle.

Kakashi's brow furrows slightly, something almost imperceptible.

"Ready? We're leaving," says Tsunade without turning back to us. And soon we're off, me on Kakashi's back again.

The forest is beginning to thin. I think I catch a glimpse of a few chopped-down trunks of trees, which hint at civilization.

The formation has loosened somewhat, probably due to the fact that we're quite far from my village. Sakura has fallen behind and is nearly in stride with Naruto. I hear their animated voices, and I'm suddenly reminded of something Kakashi said.

"So they've never seen your face before?" I whisper in his ear. That's actually quite easy, because his ear is right beside my mouth. I could press my cheek against his messy silver hair is I wanted. But I force myself to crane my neck away, just a little, to give him some space.

"No, and I don't intend on letting them anytime soon," he says, voice hinting at something.

I giggle softly. "You think _I'll_ expose your face?"

"Well," he says, "you _do_ have the means."

I wave my fingers millimeters before his face, only daring to do so for a few seconds before clutching the fabric of his shirt again for dear life. The fabric there has been stretched by my grip. He chuckles at my cowardice.

"Scared?" he teases with a glint in his eye. I roll my eyes.

"Of course I'm not."

But when he loses his footing the next second, I very nearly scream. As it is, I grab his sweater even harder, threatening to rip a hole through the fabric.

I glare at him.

"Oops," he says seriously, but there's a twinkle in his eye.

"How old are you anyways?" I demand, but inside I'm stifling a smile. "Such an immature man …"

"Thirty," he replies, raising an eyebrow.

Oh. I wasn't really expecting an answer to that. So he's seven years older than me. He's a bit older than I'd expected, but seven years isn't too bad, really. Though I should be considering much more important problems than his age. I grimace.

"That bad?" he asks jokingly. "Am I too old for you?"

It takes me a few seconds before I realize what he's suggesting. That he's considering the same thing as I am. A relationship.

A flush rises across my cheeks. "That's not what I was thinking," I protest.

He doesn't reply to that, and we fall back into silence. A silence for which I'm somewhat grateful. At least it gives me time to think about all that's happened for the first time.

I've just abandoned my village. I've just abandoned my friends and family and I've gone along willingly with Konoha shinobi. It's so many different types of _wrong_, but it just doesn't _feel_ wrong, not anymore.

I don't know when it started, this feeling of comfort. It certainly began before the other Konoha shinobi arrived. I was comfortable taking care of Kakashi only a little after meeting him and finding out that he was from Konoha. I wonder if it would have been the same with different ninja – did this happen because of my conscience or simply because that person in the forest was _him_?

I glance at the man I'm thinking about. He probably notices my gaze, but he doesn't react to it.

This is the man who took down four of the strongest men in my village, barely moving and still suffering from severe internal injuries. Even my father, who despises the world of shinobi, knows his name and fears him.

And speaking of my father … Kakashi seems to think my father honestly wasn't going to hold back, that he really wouldn't hesitate to kill me. My mind rejects the idea immediately, but I force myself to revisit the scene. That look in his eye as he raised the axe … it's not a look that I ever thought I'd see in my own father's eyes. It certainly wasn't hesitant, not in the least. If I had returned to the village, would he have killed me? Struck me down in front of Tsubasa and the others?

I ama traitor to my village. I betrayed them by harbouring an enemy within the walls of my house, and I betrayed them further when I tried to stop my father from killing him.

But was it so wrong to save a life? Was it so wrong to prevent a rage-fueled murder? Yes, he was from Konoha, but that didn't mean that he himself had done anything – him specifically – to harm us. And he had seemed sincere when he said he wanted to help us – he had lived up to his word and brought help that I now realize could prove invaluable to our village, now that I know the true strength of shinobi, and how powerless my village can be against them.

It's due to sheer luck that our village hasn't been attacked by shinobi. Or perhaps just because there is nothing to tempt thieves. Our village is small, and there is really nothing to steal. We're hidden in the mountain ranges, so very few can even stumble upon us. In fact, since we set our homes here a bit more than a year ago, only two three have managed to find us. The first, an old mountain guru who was half off-his-rocker. He raved constantly and was half-mad. We shooed him away quickly after giving him water and a meal that he looked like he needed desperately. The second was a scholarly fellow who seemed quite lost in the woods. It's these types of people, people with influence and credit that we could not afford to reveal ourselves to. We locked the gates as he approached and we stayed silent, hoping that he would leave us. He did.

And the third was Kakashi, though he didn't discover the village on his own. I let him in.

And now, something that I haven't felt in a long time, at least, not so strongly, fluttered in the pit of my stomach.

Hope.

Kakashi could help build a bridge between our two villages. Of course, there was little that our people could offer the people of Konoha, but a truce or a pact of non-aggression was enough for me. Enough for me to think that our people might forget a bit of the past and consider what we might achieve in the future.

Eh, a bit of a filler here, as you can see, but personally I like the little scene between the two of them. Probably obvious by now but Mirai's village has never actually witnessed a powerful shinobi in action. So, of course they underestimated Kakashi. By a _lot_. Anyhow, next chapter should be up by this afternoon, I'm thinking, unless I have sudden inspiration in another story (OR I FIND ANOTHER AMAZING FANFIC. LIKE THAT LOTR ONE THAT I JUST READ. OMIGOSH LEGOLAS *fangirl moment*). This chapter is a bit shorter because I wanted to fit more in for the next. 

As always, please review! :)

-Jennifer *hugs*


	6. The Human Condition

I must have fallen asleep on Kakashi's back, because when I wake up, we are slowing to a stop. The trees are very sparse now, and the air smells different. Less fresh.

As we come to a halt on the branch of a tree, I clamber off Kakashi's back but keep a steady grip on his arm. The branch is alarmingly high off the ground. He doesn't say anything, and merely raises an eyebrow before looking away, a faint smile crinkling his eye.

"We're stopping at the little village just ahead," Tsunade says. "There's a hot springs, and a place to eat. We're staying here until tomorrow morning."

"What?" Naruto exclaims. "Why are we going so slowly? I'm not tired at all, Granny!"

"Naruto!" Tsunade growls. "I have some business to finish up, so just deal with it!"

The boy quieted, but not before I hear him mumble something about "paying off debts" and "wasting time".

"Kakashi, you know where to go, right?" The man beside me nods. "Good. Well then, I'd better be off," she says hastily, and she disappears in a puff of smoke before Naruto can react.

"Damn it!" he curses, stomping his foot and making his branch shake. I'm glad Kakashi and I are on a different branch.

"Okay, Naruto, Sakura," he says, smiling with his eye, "we're going to the hot springs, so lighten up."

Sakura looks delighted, but Naruto merely looks disgruntled.

"I want to get back to Konoha!" he says. "It only took us two and a half days to get here – we're not even close to the halfway point!"

"Naruto!" Sakura hits him on the head. This seems to happen often. "Kakashi-sensei needs to heal still, and … well, not all of us here are ninja! Idiot!"

"I'm sorry for being such a burden," I murmur to Kakashi.

He merely smiles at me. "You're not. I'm nearly completely recovered. You see, Tsunade is known world-wide as the best medical ninja. I'm lucky that she came out just to help me. The real reason for staying a bit longer is so that those two," he nods towards his students as they continue to bicker, "can have a bit of a break. They've really been overloaded with missions and training lately. Especially Naruto." A dark look passes over what little of his face I can see.

"Oh," I say quietly. They look so young and so carefree, and yet Kakashi speaks of them in a way that makes me think that they might look a lot younger and naïve than they really are.

The village is bigger than mine, even though Naruto and Sakura seem to think it's small and quaint. The people on the streets glance curiously at the Konoha shinobi, but there's no animosity directed toward them.

The hot springs separates into men and women at the very entrance, and Sakura and I head through the women's door. I feel a bit guilty that Kakashi is paying for me, and when I voice this, Sakura merely tugs me away, telling me that their entry is being paid by him too and that I shouldn't worry.

"After all," she says, "you did save sensei's life."

"About that," I say, frowning, "how exactly did he end up so close to my village? Do you know what circumstances he was under? I've asked him, but … well, he always diverts my attention."

Sakura raises an eyebrow. The question is plain in her eyes, _Divert your attention how?_ I blush, realizing she took it the wrong way, but before I can explain, she says, "I don't really know everything that Kakashi-sensei has to do on missions, but most of it is top-secret. After all, he _is_ a very high-ranking ninja in our village."

We reach the changing rooms, and I feel slightly embarrassed and self-conscious as we undress. I've never been to a hot springs before, and I've certainly never undressed in a room with other people, even if they are all women, and mostly old women at that. The thing I feel the most conscious about is the large birthmark on my back. It's like a faded brown scar, the size of a fist. Sakura takes a towel from a shelf, and I follow suit, wrapping the towel around myself securely.

When we get to the hot springs, the steam is somewhat uncomfortable, as it makes my breathing difficult. Sakura is shoving a small stone through a hole in the wood, most likely the panel that separates the women's section from the men's.

"Naruto is a bit of a pervert sometimes," she tells me unashamedly before we both lower ourselves into the hot water. There are only a few old ladies gossiping quite a distance away.

It's uncomfortable at first, and I have to resist the urge to jump out in discomfort, but as I force myself to stay for a few minutes, the hot springs become more comfortable. I can feel the tension in my muscles disappearing into the water.

"So," Sakura says. The side of my mouth quirks up into an amused smile at the tone of her voice – it's the same as the tone Naruto had when he asked me if Kakashi and I were together. Conspiratorial. "You've seen _the face_, haven't you?"

I laugh, remembering how Kakashi had told me not even his students had seen his face. "_The face?_ That sounds rather ominous," I muse.

"It's a huge mystery! Our team," her voice falters a little bit just then, and I wonder why, but she recovers quickly. "We tried to get him to show it, but he's too crafty."

I laugh again. "I'm guessing you want to know how he looks under the mask?" Sakura nods eagerly, green beryl eyes sparkling in excitement. "Well … he doesn't have any discerning marks, like scars or anything … I think he's quite handsome, personally," I admit, blushing a little.

"He's handsome?" Sakura gushes. "I knew it!"

For some reason, in a few moments, the two of us are giggling as if we were both teenage girls who had been best friends forever.

But after a laughing fit, Sakura becomes a bit more solemn, though I notice a glint remains in her eyes. "You two seem pretty serious."

I blink. "Really? I … I mean, we're not together or anything," I say hastily.

Sakura's eyes widen, and she giggles again. "Not serious? You've got to be kidding me! I've never seen Kakashi-sensei act this way before."

"In what way?" I ask with genuine curiosity.

"Well," she muses, "he values his personal space quite a lot. He doesn't do physical contact very much. And he definitely doesn't let others sleep on his shoulder! If it had just been us, he probably would have slept in a tree or something, away from us." She lowers her voice to a mere whisper. "I've heard that he had a really rough time when he was younger. I mean, when he was quite little and when he was a teenager. He's sort of locked himself up … I'm not saying he's not kind, because he certainly is … but …"

"Oh," I say dumbly, feeling quite touched. There's a warmth in my toes, something I can feel even with the hot water all around me.

Sakura smiles, and I notice clearly now how _pretty_ this girl is. Her hair seems to be this beautiful shade of pink naturally, and her green eyes contrast with the colour of her hair, but her eyes are strangely a complement to her hair colour. Her skin is pale and smooth, and she has a sort of natural glow about her.

A realization hits me hard – a realization that should have occurred much sooner.

This isn't the face of a killer.

::~::

"I'm glad Kakashi-sensei has you," she says quietly and suddenly as we get dressed. I blink at her and stick my arm into the wrong sleeve. I pull my arm out carefully, trying to prevent the sleeve from inverting.

"Pardon me?"

The pinkette smiles at me. "I mean, I'm glad he has someone he can relax around. I used to think that he was happiest with me and Naruto, because he honestly doesn't have very many friends. But seeing him with you … it's so sweet, the way you two are together." She's fully dressed now, and I'm only missing my shoes. "I mean, obviously you took care of him when he was ill, but I can see he's trying to take care of you now. I don't think he's had much experience with that, and that it's difficult for him to open up."

Something rises in my throat. A lump. "I wish I knew him better," I murmur. "Well, more that I hope we'll continue to get to know each other. He seems to be a very noble and esteemed man, and I don't know if I can live up to that. If he's interested in me at all."

The girl scrutinizes me, smiling slightly. "You really like him, don't you?"

I smile a little, almost unconsciously. "I do," I admit with a blush, and it's not the first time I'm wondering why I'm telling this girl so much.

"Well, maybe you don't know this yet, nee-chan, so I should probably tell you. You're really quite beautiful," Sakura says, a little bit wistfully as she picks up a lock of my long hair, and my eyes widen in surprise at her words. "And I can tell even after only knowing your for a little while that you have a golden heart." She laughs, a little bit embarrassed at what she's said. "Kakashi-sensei should know he's a lucky man, even if you two aren't together … yet."

The lump in my throat swells alarmingly. I never expected …

"My sister was always the beautiful one," I murmur to her. "I was just the girl who could make the medicine. The plant girl. I'm really touched by your words, Sakura." I smile weakly at her, and that's the best I can do because I can barely keep tears of some strange emotion at bay.

Sakura eyes me strangely for a moment, then hugs me tightly.

I haven't felt so loved in a long time.

::~::

We settle in at a small ryokan*, whereupon Kakashi wordlessly pulls out his wallet to pay again. This time I give him a guilty smile, which he probably doesn't even see. Sakura and I are sharing a room, and Kakashi and Naruto in another. Naruto seems somewhat frightened by this prospect, and Sakura hits him on the head again.

"Baka!" she says. "It's just sharing a room! And plus, you might get to see _the face!_"

Naruto rubs his head and doesn't seem appeased. "Sakura-chan, if he didn't take his mask off even in the hot springs, I doubt he'll do it when he goes to sleep. He'll probably just be reading Ero-sennin's pervy books again."

Sakura casts me a quick glance. "Don't say that in front of Mirai-neechan!" she hisses quietly, but I hear her nonetheless, only elevating my curiosity on the matter.

The ryokan is quite small, and the toothless old man at the reception seems to be the only one managing the place. I doubt there are more than five guest rooms.

A few moments pass, and I suddenly realize that the Hokage hasn't returned from her errands. I voice my concern to nobody in particular, but Sakura frowns.

"I'd better go find her," she says darkly. "She's probably gambling again."

_Gambling? _

"I'll come with you," Naruto says, a bit worriedly. "I hope she didn't drink too much sake. If she did, she'll be really difficult to bring back!" He moans, rubbing his face.

_Drinking?_

What a strange person. As the Hokage, I would have expected her to have only noble and leader-like qualities … not drinking and gambling problems.

"She'll have a separate room, if that's what you're worried about."

With a start, I realize Kakashi and I are alone here at the ryokan. It's the first time we've been alone since meeting up with the Konoha shinobi. And the first time since Sakura has told me a bit about him. My heart skips a beat.

Kakashi hands me a set of large, clunky keys.

"No, that's not what I was thinking," I assure him, though it is a relief to know. "I have to admit though … she does scare me a bit." I smile ruefully at him.

As we walk up the stairs, I glance at the keys. Mine reads 05 and his 07. We're in rooms right across from each other.

"You probably thinks she doesn't like you," Kakashi says quietly, "but it's nothing against you personally. She really does feel guilty about everything that she's done to your Sora-nin, but she doesn't know how to reach out. It's difficult for her." His words remind me of what Sakura said about him, and I nod. "She's a good person, honestly."

"Let me just freshen up a bit," I say without thinking as I reach my room. Then I freeze. What am I freshening up for? Did I expect him to invite me into his room?

"Sure," Kakashi replies easily, though I don't know if the note of surprise I detect is a figment of my imagination. "Just come on over when you're done."

I swallow as I push my door open, fighting the urge to burst out into a grin.

The room is simple, with just two small, narrow futons separated by a small drawer and a door on the left leading to a washroom. There is a small window opposite me, and a sink and a small stove with a kettle in the corner of the room, next to the washroom door. The flooring is tatami*, and it's comfortable to slide my feet across. I choose the bed beside the window, because light in the mornings has always helped me wake up, and take off my worn-out shoes and place them by the mat.

I walk into the bathroom and see a large mirror and a little shower stall. After soaking myself in the hot springs, there's not too much of a need to take a shower. Maybe I'd do so tomorrow morning, in case we don't stop for a while. But there's nothing for me to change into. I look around again and realise there's a closet on the other side of the washroom door, and there are simple white yukata* robes. I take one and bring it to the washroom with me to change into.

As I change, Sakura's words come to mind again.

"_Nee-chan … you're really quite beautiful." _

Then I look at myself in the mirror. Long dark hair, dark eyes, and pale skin – though not as pale as Sakura's. Completely mediocre looks. My eyes have always looked a bit drawn, too wide, like Tsubasa's would become if she didn't sleep enough. My figure has never been ideal either – my breasts too small and my hips too narrow. I've always been told that if I ever had a child, childbirth would be difficult. The only thing I've ever exceeded Tsubasa is my height, and that's not altogether a great asset. It makes me look elongated, not more glamorous.

I shake my head. Sakura wouldn't say that if she saw Tsubasa. What I told her is true. Tsubasa has features similar to mine, but all so much more _perfect. _Nobody has ever considered me beautiful, because I have always been in the shadow of my younger sister. Nobody … well, except Kiyosho.

I berate myself silently as tears, even now, come to my eyes.

_Kiyosho, what would you have done? Would you have saved someone like him?_

Of course he would have.

I force myself to stop thinking about him, like I've done so many times in the past. Thinking about Kiyosho never ended happily.

My tunic and pants are a bit dirty from all the travelling that we've done, and I wash them quickly, hanging them up from the hooks on the washroom door. The material is cheap, not cotton, so it will dry soon.

I keep my undershirt on, on top of my underwear. The yukata is quite comfortable, considering it is complimentary. I retie the sash around my waist so that the cloth covers a bit more of me. The yukata comes down to my knees, showing my calves. I guess that's all right, and because of my height, my legs have always looked long and slim.

I blush. What am I trying to do, seduce Kakashi? This is ridiculous.

To prove that I'm not trying to do anything of that sort, I don't comb my hair and march over to his room. The clunky keys in my hand jangle as I knock softly on his door.

::~::

Kakashi opens the door, and the first thing I notice is the faint scent of tea. His room is essentially the same as mine, save for the presence of a low table with mats on the ground.

"Naruto's not back yet?" I ask out of courtesy as I walk in. _Of course he's not! If he was, Sakura would be too, _I scold myself.

"No," Kakashi says as the door closes behind him. "Getting Tsunade-sama to come back … that might take a while."

My eyebrows raise. "Is she really gambling and drinking?" Not only are those not fit for a Hokage to do, they're also unwomanly.

"Yes," Kakashi sighs as he grabs the teapot and brings it over to the table. We both sit as he pours tea. "Tsunade is famous – infamous, I mean, for her bad luck in gambling. But she's an addict." He sighs again. "That's why she gave me some of the mission money, so that she doesn't spend it all."

I smile at this piece of information as I sip my tea. The tea is okay, but the hotness of the beverage is appreciated most. Kakashi has settled in by taking off his vest only, and I see it over the mat closer to the door. There's also a little red book. I wonder if this is what Naruto had mentioned out in the lobby.

"Will you take your mask off for me?" I ask suddenly, and his visible eye widens slightly at my abrupt request. I defend myself softly, "I like seeing your face." He gets up first to lock the door, and I smile as he takes off the mask, sitting across from me again. He really is quite handsome. "Why do you hide your face all the time?"

He hesitates, his lips pressed firmly together before he answers, and his answer is quiet as he stares down at the tea. "I look too much like my father. My face reminds me of him." He glances up at me. "But also for security reasons. It … allows me to hide my emotions a bit more easily."

I stare at him. This man … he wants to hide his emotion from even his students, who are almost like his own children? And his father … what does he mean by that? I don't dare ask yet.

"You don't mind letting me see your emotion?" I ask instead.

He smiles, and it's very different from when he smiles with his mask on. "You, who I've known only for a few days, know more about me than some people who have known me for years."

"I don't," I say automatically. "I barely know what feats you've accomplished to become this famous person that even my father – "

"But that's just it," he interrupts me. "Those are things that I've done, and not _parts of me. _If someone else did the exact same things, they still wouldn't be _me_. And because you know so little of these things … you can judge me without bias." The last words end in little more than a whisper. His fingertips are white as he clenches them around his teacup.

"Why do you close yourself to other people?" I ask, just as softly.

"I hurt people. I put them in danger. I …" he swallows, "I can't protect the people I love."

The people he loves … an image of Sakura and Naruto comes to my mind first. But then something clicks in my mind.

"You … had another student, didn't you?"

"_Our team …"_ Sakura had said, and she had hesitated then.

"Yes," he said, almost inaudibly. "I believed he was the most similar to me, at least when I was his age. I put the most effort into teaching him, because his skills were similar to mine. And … in the end, he left. I couldn't save him, and I couldn't save Naruto and Sakura, who loved him."

A memory of Kiyosho flashes painfully in my mind.

"_Mirai, stay back! Get yourself to shelter!" _

And suddenly, without thinking, I lean across the table and kiss him.

*ryokan – a Japanese-style inn, as described in the chapter.

*tatami – bamboo flooring.

*yukata – a traditional, informal Japanese robe. These are sometimes provided at ryokan (inns).

Whew! What a long chapter this one was. AND it ends with a bit of a cliffie. I had half a mind to cut it after the hot springs scene with Sakura, but I felt nice today :) Also, I _did_ get sudden inspiration yesterday to start a new fanfic, so I didn't post what I had of this chapter as I promised. :S 

In case the implication was too vague, the title of the chapter refers to how humans tend to bond together, especially in times of need or sadness, or both. 

Hope you're liking the fluff ^^ Kakashi seems a bit OOC in this one, but I tried to make it as believable as possible… T-T I mean, Mirai is the kind of person who opens up her heart, her hopes, everything to those around her (she's quite Piscean, I'd say) and that's a bit contagious. Please tell me if there's anything I can do to make Kakashi more in-character, whether it's by review or PM! :) 

Song of the chapter: _Ordinary_ – Baek Ji Young; it's not exactly the same context as this chapter or story, but it's just the feelings and the mood of the song that I love. It was what was playing as I wrote this. :)

Thanks for reading! Please **review**, **follow**, and/or **favourite**! Your input and responses are always valued. A lot. 

-Jennifer *hugs*


	7. The Bird That Took Flight

I see Kakashi's eyes widening before I close my eyes.

Vaguely, I wonder what the hell I'm doing and why I'm acting so forward, but Kakashi doesn't push me away. I can taste the tea on his lips, and I use my teeth to pull on his lower lip gently. He hesitates then, but very soon he's kissing me back, albeit very in control of himself for a few moments before he pushes me away gently.

I sit back, mortified. "I'm so sorry," I blurt out hastily, "I don't know what came over me – one second you were talking and the next …"

Suddenly, inexplicably, he smiles. "Don't apologize." He tugs his mask up, to my surprise. "Act natural."

"Kakashi-sensei!" comes a loud, rather obnoxious voice from outside. It's Naruto. "Which room are you in?"

Kakashi rises to his feet and helps me up. "Thanks," I mumble, still a bit shocked at what I did, and also the coolness with which he reacted.

He opens the door, and I see Tsunade being supported by Naruto and Sakura, looking completely wasted.

"I'm not drunk!" she yells at Naruto, rather drunkenly.

"Ah," Kakashi says in a worried tone. "Tsunade-sama, you're in Room Six." He walks out to unlock the door for her, and his two students dump the Hokage on a mat before coming hastily out of her room. Kakashi places the key on a counter before coming out.

"She lost a lot more money," Sakura said, sighing and rolling her shoulders. "She wouldn't come back with us at first – refused, until Naruto threatened to tell everyone her real age."

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto says suddenly, eyes widening. "What were you and Mirai-neechan doing together in your room?"

Sakura perks up too, and a heat rises in my cheeks.

"We were drinking tea," Kakashi says calmly, pointing to the evidence on the table. But the two wouldn't be discouraged, and their faces show nothing but suspicion. "Now, we should get to sleep to get ready for a long day tomorrow. Come on, Naruto."

Naruto gulps, realizing that he'll be alone with Kakashi for an entire night, and Sakura snickers. "It's not so bad," she teases, grinning.

"Easy for you to say," Naruto mutters, "Mirai-neechan isn't scary like _him_. Who knows what he'll do to me in the middle of the night." He jabs a finger at Kakashi's retreating figure before sighing and following him into the room. The door closes with a definite click.

Sakura and I chuckle as we head back to our room.

"Will your Hokage be okay?"

Sakura rolls her eyes. "She'll be find. She drinks a lot of sake on a regular basis, and a bit of an overdose isn't uncommon either. We do try to prevent her from doing these things, but…"

"'We?'" I repeat curiously.

"Oh, me, Shizune – that's her assistant – and Kiyomi-chan mostly. Kiyomi's one of the shinobi at your village right now." I nod. "Though some other medical-nin do tend to help out sometimes." She makes a face.

"Why does she do it? I mean, Tsunade."

"I'm not really sure." Sakura looks a bit pensive. "Well, the gambling I'm not so sure, because she has the worst luck. But the drinking is probably just a result of the gambling. And sometimes out of … sadness, I suppose?" She suddenly comes out of her reverie. "Forget that I said that, actually. Her past is complicated." She smiles suddenly at me, but I can tell it's just to distract me. "I'm going to go take a shower."

As Sakura disappears into the washroom, a wave of fatigue comes over me, and I sit down on the mat, head spinning a little. I rub my eyes tiredly.

There's a small sound at the window, and I look out curiously. It's a small grey bird about the size of my fist, quite nondescript, and it's pecking at the window as if it wants to be let in.

I lift the latch that locks the window and the bird hops in, onto the windowsill. It gazes at me with intelligent eyes and an intensity that surprises me. As if it's studying me. Figuring out who I am.

Suddenly I feel uncomfortable.

This isn't normal. Birds don't look at people like this. And then the bird opens its pale yellow beak, and a small roll of paper starts to come out of its mouth.

I jump back in shock. This isn't right. This isn't possible. The roll of paper is much too big to fit in the bird's beak or even its stomach for that matter in the first place, and how is it doing this?

The bird finishes regurgitating the piece of paper and it immediately flies away and out of the window.

Hastily, I close the window and lock it without touching the piece of paper on the windowsill. The paper looks normal enough – there can't be a trap that small, can there? I glance at the washroom door. The water is still running – Sakura won't be coming out in a little while.

Should I open it? There shouldn't be any harm in doing so …

My finger brushes the piece of paper.

Nothing happens.

I unfurl it and my eyes widen as I read the short note.

_Destroy this and come out immediately.  
Don't let any of the shinobi see, or you will regret it._

And underneath, in a completely different hand, there are another few lines, just above a splotchy damp mark:

_Mirai,  
Please help me. They have me._

It's unmistakably my sister's writing and her tears.

::~::

They have Tsubasa.

Oh heavens. They have Tsubasa.

My heart starts to pound, and the fingers that clench the paper shake.

I've got to get out of here or else they'll hurt her. I need to go before Sakura is done her shower. I can't let anyone know. I can't let whoever has Tsubasa hurt her.

_Calm down. _

I breathe – it's but a shallow pant.

_Move naturally. _

I walk to the door stiffly, the paper crumpled in my clenched fist.

And I force myself not to knock on Kakashi's door and tell him everything that's happened and how terrified I am and have him tell me what I should do.

I manage to get to the lobby. The toothless old man isn't at the reception anymore, and there's a little sign sitting on the table saying, "Back in an hour" with a smiley face.

I walk out of the inn, and I know I'm visibly shaking now. The cool night air does nothing to help.

I hear a twitter.

It's the gray bird, and it's as if it's asking me to follow it. I take a deep breath and I do just that as it hops down the path that leads away from the inn, away from the shinobi that might be able to help me. Away from safety.

And suddenly questions spring into my mind. How did they get Tsubasa, even with the Konoha ninja guarding the village? How did they know I was related to her?

My blood runs cold.

Were the Konoha ninja the ones who took her?

_No_, I think in horror. _No. Kakashi wouldn't…_

But what if it wasn't Kakashi? What if it was the Hokage who ordered it, and Kakashi really had no idea? And – I get even colder – what _if_ he knew? It wasn't as if he had an obligation towards me. Why would he go against it?

But no, it made no sense. Tsubasa was kidnapped to get _me_ to go somewhere. I'm the one they want. And somehow, knowing that, I feel a little less frightened, because at least Tsubasa will be let free if I comply.

Comply to what?

Why would anybody want to kidnap me? I don't even have a place in my village anymore, and I'm a trusted or important citizen of Konoha. If what Kakashi thought was true, that my father wouldn't hesitate to kill me, there was no point in kidnapping me to threaten our little village. Tsubasa is the important one.

The gray bird stops and suddenly flies away. I'm left standing on a grassy plain next to a large tree, about half a mile from the inn. It's so dark that I can only see the outline of the tree.

And all of a sudden a hand covers my mouth and two hands restrain my arms. There are at least two people, and one gags me and blindfolds me while the other ties my wrists together in front of me. The rope seems to be quite long, and one of my captors tugs on the rope. I walk in the direction in which I'm led.

The restraints aren't necessary. I'd do anything knowing that Tsubasa is in their hands. I couldn't fight back anyways.

I trip over the uneven ground, but my captors don't pause, not even for a bit to let me up. I stumble along and feel no more grassy plain beneath my feet, but rather a firm gravel path. I have no idea where we are and where we're going.

I hear no sounds but feet crunching atop the gravel and the slight breeze. No sounds of pursuit. Maybe Sakura has a habit of taking very long showers, or they assumed I was going for a walk. I realize the piece of paper is still clenched tightly in my fist. At this rate, my nails are going to break through the skin of my palms. I didn't think to leave the piece of paper there. And I wouldn't, even if I had the choice now, because if I had, and they came after me, Tsubasa would be in danger. Whoever took her is using her as a threat against _me_, and though the Konoha shinobi might not care about her, I do, and I can't let anything happen to her.

Suddenly we come to a halt, and I am forced onto what seems to be a boat. It's a rowing boat, and I can hear the splashing sounds that the paddles make as they break the water. We seem to be going quite quickly across water, and then they pull me out of the boat, and onto gravel once again. We walk for a short distance and stop suddenly.

There's a loud grating noise, like two rocks being scraped together. A hand pushes my head down roughly and the rope around my hands pulls. I assume we're walking into a tunnel or a cave of some sort, and I hear the grating noise again behind me. It's a boulder to block the entrance, I realize. There's no way anyone will find me here.

I swallow hard, but really, I'm much less worried now. I am willing to do whatever they want me to do, and now that I'm sure there's nobody who found out and followed, I know Tsubasa won't be harmed. My breathing is deeper, more regular, and my heart, though still racing, doesn't feel like it's going to explode in my breast.

Through the fabric of the blindfold, I can see bright spots of light that flicker slightly. Torchlight? It's rather primitive.

One of my captors tugs more roughly, indicating for me to hurry up, and I quicken my pace. This is a tunnel, I'm sure of it. A cave couldn't be this long. And judging by the echoes our footsteps make, it's a very long tunnel with various different paths.

I cough experimentally, and despite the gag muffling the sound, it comes back to me clearly different times. It's definitely more than one tunnel. It's like a labyrinth. There must be countless different paths here; if there was a final sliver of hope in my mind that someone would be able to find me here, it's gone now.

"Quiet!" hisses a voice from behind me.

We slow, and I hear the grating of another boulder. Are we leaving here?

But no, there is no caress of the wind, and no sounds of wildlife. It must be a chamber within the labyrinth.

My captors bring me to a halt, and I feel them moving on the spot. When the rope is tugged downwards, I realize they are bowing.

"You may rise."

Relief rushes through me suddenly, but disappears just as quickly.

And suddenly my blood runs cold again. My mind struggles to understand what's going on, but to no avail whatsoever.

My body sags in shock, and I barely notice it as my captors haul me to my feet.

I would know that voice anywhere.

They untie the blindfold, and what I knew before is confirmed.

"What's wrong, big sister?"

She's sitting on a large stone chair. _A throne_, my mind supplies feebly. Her lips are curved into a sneer, white teeth showing. The coldness in her voice causes my heart to constrict.

"Surprised to see me here?"

Tsubasa flashes me a feral grin.

Surprise! Anyway, I made a little change to Chapter 6, to keep consistent with what will happen later. You'll see. ;) 

Short blurb today – I'm excited for what will happen next! 

Please **review, favourite, and follow**! 

-Jennifer *hugs*


	8. The Betrayal of Love

_Recap: _

"_What's wrong, big sister?" _

_She's sitting on a large stone chair. A _throne_, my mind supplies feebly. Her lips are curved into a sneer, white teeth showing. The coldness in her voice causes my heart to constrict. _

"_Surprised to see me here?" _

_Tsubasa flashes me a feral grin. _

::~::

The first thought that runs through my head is that it's not Tsubasa.

This … this is just an imposter who looks stunningly like her.

There are two torches behind her, and they cast an eerie, flickering light over her. She's dressed in strange clothes, too – a red cleavage-baring dress, and it only covers the very tops of her thighs. Her shoes – are they even shoes? – are impossibly high, and they look impossible to walk in. I squint at her face – she's wearing heavy makeup. My first instinct is to yell at her, as an older sister and a motherly figure.

I must look ridiculous before her, dressed in the white yukata that I put on what seems to be ages ago before going into Kakashi's room.

There's a strange apparatus on her head. A crown of some sort, but white feathers with gold tips are attached. I've never seen anything like it.

This is impossible. How would she get all these clothes and supplies? Our village doesn't have them. Fancy clothes and makeup are fickle, useless things to refugees like us. It can't possibly be Tsubasa.

But as I watch this woman in front of me, horror dawns upon me. The little freckle at her ankle that she's always hated. The way she crosses her legs. The graceful curve of her wrist, and the fact that it's her left elbow that's resting on the side of the throne, hand draped carelessly just below her jaw. She's one of the only two people I know who are left-handed – the other being our father.

And even that little lock of hair that just barely tucks behind her ear because she cut that lock off completely when she was twelve.

It really is her.

"What, having trouble finding your tongue?" she laughs coldly, knowing full well that my gag is still present. I can't even glare at her – my mind is still reeling in shock. All I want to ask is _how _and _why?_ "I'm glad you came here willingly, dear sister of mine."

She must have written the note and splashed a drop of water or something onto the paper to make it seem as though she was being held captive against her will.

And suddenly the betrayal flares up and explodes like fireworks.

I came here _willingly_ so that I could protect _her_. To make sure she didn't get hurt. I am so filled with fury that tears are leaking out of my eyes, and my bound hands are clenched tighter than ever. Red tints the edges of my vision and my entire body is burning, burning with rage.

"Or should I even call you _sister_?" she says in a mock-thoughtful tone.

The surprise doesn't seep past my rage right away. Then it's a whole melange of fury, shock, and confusion, and not just fury.

_What are you talking about?_

I guess the question is obvious and written in my eyes, because she laughs, "You never even suspected, all along, did you? _I_ suspected it, but I never had the nerve to ask. Unfortunate, really," she sighs dramatically, "because this all could have come to be so much sooner." Lazily, she inspects one of her fingernails. It's _manicured_, I realize. Another little shock.

"Ungag her," she says imperiously, and one of the men beside me leans towards me to remove the gag. As he does so, his face falls into the line of light, and I realize it's Kentaro. He's wearing dirty rags for clothes, a complete contrast to Tsubasa. He looks slightly haggard, and he glares at me when he sees me staring at him.

But on a second observation, Tsubasa's face looks somewhat gaunt as well. There are dark shadows under her eyes that I'm sure aren't intentional and a result of makeup – she looks hollow. Shadowy.

"You never suspected, did you?" she repeats, and I glare at her with all the might I have. Her eyes narrow, glinting dangerously. "Answer me!"

Juvenile as it is, just because of that, I close my lips tightly together, refusing to answer. She snaps her fingers and suddenly Kentaro strikes me across the cheek, the sound ringing throughout the cavern.

I gasp in pain – he had really meant for that to hurt. This is _Kentaro_! Sure, we'd never been best friends, but we'd gotten along well! How … _why?_

"Now, you never suspected, did you?" she says again sweetly.

I glare balefully at her for a moment, and Kentaro strikes me again, this time harder than the last. There's a metallic taste in my mouth – it's blood.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I spit out.

She sneers, but I notice how tired she looks. "Maybe I need to go a bit slower for my dear half-sister." _Half-sister?_ "You see, when the Konoha shinobi attacked our country, Father had all the means to get our entire family out. He was, and is, an important man, wouldn't you agree?" I flinch, fearing another blow, but it doesn't come. She continues. "But there was something bothering Father. Something that Mother told him a while ago that has haunted his mind. Something that made him hesitate – should he save his wife?"

"Father would never do anything to harm her," I snarl automatically.

She raises an eyebrow, seeming to fight back a laugh. "Maybe," she says venomously, "you shouldn't call him Father."

::~::

"What?" I whisper.

Suddenly the floor is rushing up to meet me, and I look up at Tsubasa – no, this _stranger_ – from a kneeling position. The coldness of the stone seeps through to my knees, but I don't give it a second thought.

"Yes," she says, almost hissing. "The only blood we share is from our dear, dead mother. And on that day that Konoha struck, Father revisited the math classes he had done so far back, in grade school. And you know what he realized? He realized that baby the filthy woman was pregnant with, it couldn't have been his." She leans forward and the neckline of her dress allows for even more to be seen. "_Two _bastard children. Now that couldn't be accepted, could it now?"

"He … killed her?" I croak. It doesn't sink in. Not yet. "Father killed … M-Mother?"

She laughs, a shriek of a laugh. Like that of a bird of prey. "Don't s-s-stutter, dear step-sister! You know how father always disliked that about some children. Oh," her face suddenly changes, expression morphing into one of pity, but it's too overdone to be believable, "but why would _you_ care about what _my_ father thinks? After all, he's not _your_ father!"

She laughs again, and I cringe at the sound. It's not natural. She's never sounded this way before – there's something wrong about her. Like she's gone mad.

"What happened to you?" I ask, and even I'm surprised at how clear and steady my voice is. I struggle to stand as gracefully as I can. Tsubasa sits up a bit straighter, frowning slightly at my sudden change. "What happened to you, Tsubasa?"

"Nothing _happened_," she scowls. Then it's like she's talking to herself, her eyes stare downwards, flickering around as if distracted. "Nothing _happened_ because it was all there already."

"_What_ was there already?"

"The past. The future. Our destinies. We will … rise."

She's obviously having delusions or hallucinations or something. She's not even looking at me anymore. She's looking at a spot just below my waist.

But her gaze suddenly comes back to my face.

"That's not a birthmark, you know," she says, and her tone is suddenly soft. Confidential, like the time she told me she liked a boy in her class. Her gaze is steady. I've always been told we have the same eyes, and it's like staring at myself in the mirror when I see her eyes.

"What?"

_Not a birthmark_ … that brown splotch on my back? How …

"It's not a birthmark," she repeats calmly, and all the strange, crazy light has disappeared from her eyes.

I stare at her. These sudden changes are unnerving. Has she suddenly developed schizophrenia or something?

As I watch, her hand drops to her belly, almost unconsciously it seems on her part, and caresses it gently. A sudden thought occurs to me – is she _pregnant?_

Suddenly, the boulder behind me moves, and both Tsubasa and I jump at the grating sound. A distressed-looking man, dressed similarly to Kentaro – in rags – hurries into the cavern before waiting anxiously for the boulder to move back into place. I narrow my eyes. Is it some form of technology that moves the boulder, like pressing a button or making a certain motion, or is it a ninjutsu?

The man rushes to Tsubasa's side and whispers something in her ear. Her expression changes quickly from one of annoyance to a sudden flash of fear. She shoots a quick glance at me before looking away suddenly, as if my gaze is painful for her to bear.

"Get me _out_ of here!" she snarls loudly, and she runs – or rather hobbles in those shoes – to her right. The man rushes in front of her and does something I can't see that makes a door suddenly appear in the wall. Kentaro and the other man that held me captive follow closely behind them, leaving me there as the doorway suddenly closes again, leaving no trace of any disturbance in the rock.

I'm left there, standing with my hands bound with rope and not knowing what to do. _This is ridiculous_, a small part of me thinks, but the bigger, dominating part of me is terrified. What happened? Couldn't they have told me before they left me here?

_And why would they do that? _that small part of me sneers. _They have no obligation towards you. You're nothing. Nothing, even to Tsubasa, for whom you would – and just did! – risk your life for._

Suddenly I can hear something from beyond the boulder. Voices.

I move backwards hastily, struggling in vain to remove the ropes that bind my hands. Giving up, I strain my ears, trying to catch what's being said, and suddenly one voice cuts through clearly.

"Sakura," comes Kakashi's unmistakable voice, and his tone is as if he's giving an order, or permission for her to do something.

And then something collides with the boulder so hard that it's smashed to mere pieces, rubble on the ground.

Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto are there.

"Nee-chan, are you all right?" Naruto exclaims worriedly.

Sakura helps untie the rope binding my hands. "What happened here?" she asks in a hushed voice, looking around.

"H-How did you know I was here?"

"Kakashi-sensei saw a bird outside that made him suspicious, because birds aren't normally outside this late. And after I was done my shower and saw you were missing, we pieced it together. What happened?"

Numbly, I hold out my fist, the one that is still clenching the little piece of paper. "It was my sister. They brought me here to _her_."

Sakura finishes reading the note, and her face is full of pity as she hugs me. I don't hug her back because I'm still too numb.

"Your sister?" Kakashi says in alarm. "The one who came into your house?"

I nod.

"Where did she go?"

I point to the doorway, disguised as an innocent slab of rock now. "I don't know how they make it move. But they went through that after a guard came in and told her something."

"It must've been the guard we let by," Kakashi says in a murmur. "Don't do that, Naruto!" he says sharply as Naruto begins to feel the wall. "We're leaving now."

Kakashi insists on carrying me on his back – I don't have the energy to fight back or to thank him. He's right, of course, because I can barely walk. What if there are traps here?

But we make it to the entrance with no trouble. Another pile of rubble is on the ground – Sakura did this? I'm too weary to puzzle it out. I'm too weary even to gasp in shock as they start to run _on top _of the water, which turns out to be a slow-moving river.

And when we finally get back to the inn, Kakashi doesn't put me down, but instead takes me to my room, and Sakura unlocks the door with our key before he sets me down carefully on my bed.

"Thank you," I murmur weakly, and I can't read his expression behind that mask. They're all in my room, and Kakashi sits next to me on my bed while Sakura and Naruto face us from hers. I think they're expecting me to tell them all the details of what happened.

"So your sister tricked you into thinking that she was kidnapped, just so that she could kidnap _you_?" Sakura asks, I suppose mainly to inform the other two of what happened. I nod, and I notice Naruto bristling.

"I don't know what happened to her," I whisper. "She was like a completely different person than the person I know … but at the same time, it _had_ to be her. All the little things that she does, and every little quirk about her – all of it was the same. But … she acted so differently, and I don't understand what happened."

"What did she say to you after she brought you there?" Kakashi asks.

"She…" I hesitate, the memories coming back to me in a sort of slow-motion horror film. "She said … we're not really sisters. Apparently my mother had me with another man. And … it wasn't Konoha ninja that killed her that day. She had been pregnant and it wasn't my father's child. My father … no, Keiji killed her."

There's a shocked silence.

"Your half-sister then, she's Keiji's daughter then?"

I nod. "I think so. It seemed like that's what she was saying."

"Did you see anyone else you know?"

"Kentaro. He's … well, he's Tsubasa's husband. They got married in secret. I'm one of the few people who knows. But," I hesitate, "both of them, Kentaro and Tsubasa … they both looked tired. As if something was wearing them down. I don't think that, whatever it is that's going on, they're not at the top of the hierarchy."

"Keiji then?" Naruto asks, and I'm surprised by the angry roughness of his voice. He's really bristling, as if he's having trouble containing his fury.

"I … I don't know. I still don't understand all that's going on," I whisper. "Ever since Tsubasa … ever since that happened, I've been in shock," I admit, "and I still can't accept it … I mean, I _love _her. I love my little sister, and it's impossible for me to think of her in this light."

"I'll never forgive her!" Naruto bursts out, and he slams his hand down on the tatami. His eyes, normally a bright blue colour, are now blood-red. There's something strange about his pupils too.

"Naruto!" Kakashi says sharply. "Calm yourself!"

Sakura places a hand on his shoulder, and Naruto's breaths seem to slow slightly. He clenches his fists and closes his eyes.

"Is there anything else?" Kakashi asks me. "Anything else that might be useful knowledge?"

I swallow. "She said something strange. Something that I don't understand." I look up at him, and his gaze is cautious. Wary. Does he suspect me? "She said something about my birthmark. The birthmark on my back. Except she says it's not a birthmark."

"It's not," comes a voice from the door, and I start in surprise.

It's Tsunade – she must have entered the room during Naruto's outburst, and I didn't notice.

"It's not a birthmark. It's a scar." Her face is sombre, almost. There's no sign of drunkenness left in her. "It was made when something was put inside you."

"What?" I breathe. Put what inside me?

She comes a bit closer to me. "It's something that's giving off quite a considerable amount of chakra. I believe it's a weapon."

::~::

Dun-dun-dun-dun! All right, I'm not sure if this is believable enough, but it made sense in my mind. :S This will be explained quite a bit later, I'm thinking, and at that point, please tell me if it's ridiculous or something. :P And TEE-HEE. Did you think the chapter referred to Kakashi? Eh, don't worry, they're not in love, not at all yet. Well, maybe on Mirai's side, but she's a bit of a pushover when it comes to love. Though I still love my OC. 3

Just so you can get a bit of an idea of what Tsubasa was acting like, for anyone that watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, Tsubasa's character here (not back in Chapter 2-ish), only here on forward, is inspired by Azula at the very end of the series, especially when she's fighting Katara and after she's captured. And a little before the fight, when she dismisses all the guards and such, even the two hags. LOL that scene made me laugh. Aaand I'm probably laughing alone because nobody knows what I'm talking about. 

Anyhow. I find it difficult to juggle lines between many characters, so I tried my best to keep Naruto, who's less important in the story, in character. However, I'm not giving him many lines – not as many as Sakura or Kakashi. Hm. Anyway, I was quite pleased with how the scene with Tsubasa turned out. You'll see how all those little things she does will add up in the future. And how everything she says makes some sense at least. 

I may be getting a little bit busier soon. That means no one-chapter-per-day-awesomeness anymore. But I'll still try and update, so long as my inspiration remains. :) And for the record, this is not a story I have planned out all the way to the end – in fact, I'm sort of finding things out as I'm writing. Like I'm living the story through Mirai, instead of being the omnipotent and omniscient writer. So once in a while I may go back and change a small detail, like how I did in Chapter 6 with the tiny mention of the birthmark. However, they will never be big changes – only things to make what happen next not too abrupt. If you don't happen to read the newest version, of say Chapter 6, it won't really matter anyways – I mean, the birthmark only becomes significant here anyways. 

I'LL STOP TALKING. I'm talking way too much. Please _**review**_, _**follow**_, and _**favourite**_! 

-Jennifer *hugs!*


	9. The Tiny Turn of Tides

_Recap: _

"_It's not a birthmark. It's a scar." Her face is sombre, almost. There's no sign of drunkenness left in her. "It was made when something was put inside you." _

"_What?" I breathe. Put what inside me? _

_She comes a bit closer to me. "It's something that's giving off quite a considerable amount of chakra. I believe it's a weapon."_

_::~::_

"A weapon?" My lips are dry. I lick them, knowing that the action will only make the situation worse. "What do you mean, a weapon?"

Tsunade's expression is dark. "I don't want to say too much yet, not until we can take a better look at it back in Konoha. However, I know for certain that it isn't a birthmark. Chakra has been seeping out for a while now, ever since we started moving away from the village. It seems to be triggered by your distance to something, or to someone."

My expression must show that I'm horrified. "So … it might blow up or something all of a sudden?"

She shakes her head, a crease in her brow appearing. "Not a weapon like that. There must be someone who has some control over it, or someone who is able to trigger it when in close proximity to you. The chakra that's leaking right now isn't dangerous in the sense that you think, but rather that it's leaving a trail to be followed. But with shinobi of our level by you, there shouldn't be any problem. Just in case, we're going to set out tomorrow and take another night before reaching Konoha the day after, just to keep our chakra levels up."

"Take a look at it now, Tsunade-sama," Kakashi says quietly. I look up at him in surprise. "It's better if you check it as soon as possible."

Her frown deepens a little bit more, but she nods. "Go take the yukata off in the washroom so I can take a look at it."

I oblige quickly and hastily. My own curiosity is overwhelming. When I find that the clothes I had washed are almost dry, I pull on my trousers. On top, I only have my undershirt.

When I exit the washroom, my face reddens.

Kakashi – and Naruto, for that matter – haven't left the room, but Tsunade motions for me to come over impatiently. I sit back down on the bed, face burning. But with my back to Naruto and Sakura, and sitting somewhat behind Kakashi and to the side of him, I don't think there's too much baring of skin to be worried about. At least, not from the front.

Tsunade lifts my undershirt from the back with a practical hand and a detached air – how medical-nin should be, I scold myself, thinking of how emotional I was when taking care of Kakashi.

There's a small intake of breath from behind me, and it doesn't come from Tsunade. It's probably Naruto's reaction to seeing such an ugly birthmark – no, a scar. But as I think about it, this is a very smooth scar – aren't scars usually rough and puckered, even after healing? I feel Tsunade's thumb brush the scar quite gently.

"There's a seal," she says softly. _A seal?_

Someone stands up abruptly. I don't have to look to know it's Naruto.

"Granny. Is it like mine?"

When she doesn't answer immediately, Naruto calls her name again impatiently. "I don't know," she says finally, and she pulls the fabric over my back again. I turn to face her, confused. "She's not a Jinchuuriki, that's for sure, but there are definitely similarities between her scar and your seal."

"Naruto, you have one too?" I ask, wide-eyed. Tsunade moves away again, back to her standing position facing my bed.

Without hesitation, Naruto lifts up his shirt, baring his stomach. There's a swirl and circles dotting the design. Seeing the eerie design makes me shiver, for some odd reason.

"Are you cold?" Kakashi asks from beside me.

I shake my head, trying to smile at him, but it doesn't work.

Naruto sits back down on the bed. He looks almost as confused as I feel.

"I don't understand," I say finally. "What is a Jinchuuriki?"

"A human container for a tailed beast," Sakura says to me softly. "A container for a demon. For Naruto, it's the Kyuubi."

The Kyuubi? I've heard of that before. It brought destruction to Konoha generations ago…

And if I had something like that in me, why should it be anything different? "They're trying to take down Konoha again," I say out loud. I don't even realize I'm speaking out loud until after I've said it. When I look up, four sets of eyes are on me. "This is just another plan to take down Konoha," I realize. "It must be."

"But the Sky never possessed a Tailed Beast," Tsunade interjects, shaking her head. "The Sky was too small of a nation, even in ancient times. And besides, we have intel on each and every one of the nine Tailed Beasts – none of their Jinchuuriki have a physical description that matches you."

It occurs to me suddenly that this is the longest conversation I've ever held with the Hokage, and it's completely civil. And the purpose of the conversation is to find out about something in me.

She's helping me.

"Do you know of any other demons like that in the world, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asks.

"Well," he says thoughtfully, "there was the Spirit Beast* … but Naruto of course knows what happened to _that_. However, its existence presents the possibility that other beasts like it exist. I don't know of any others specifically."

"What Kakashi says is true," Tsunade says. "If the Spirit Beast had been forgotten, we can't rule out the possibility that more of these demons existed and were forgotten."

A _demon_ sealed inside me, since I was but a small child. How is it possible that I never knew? How is it possible that I've had something like this sealed inside me? I glance at Naruto. His child-like face is deep in thought, his brow furrowed. It's an odd expression on his face, one that I haven't seen in the few days I've known him.

"Nee-chan, you should get some sleep," Sakura says gently, cutting through my thoughts. She places a hand on my knee. "It's very late. We'll sort this out together. Don't worry, nee-chan."

I stare into her honest, wide green eyes. She means it. They won't desert me. She smiles at me, and leans forward to wrap her arms around me, and suddenly this younger girl is making me feel so much less scared. Tears come to my eyes.

"Thank you, Sakura," I whisper. "Thank you all so, so much."

Tsunade merely nods before leaving. Naruto, a small smile as he stands by Sakura's side. And Kakashi places a reassuring hand on my shoulder before he and Naruto leave together. Naruto exits first, and when Kakashi closes the door, he glances at me one last time. I don't think I'm imagining the slight curve of his lips under the mask. A small, comforting smile before he leaves.

"Nee-chan," Sakura says again. "Go to sleep. Nothing else is going to happen tonight."

Her voice is reassuring. So reassuring and honest, I'm shocked that such a young girl can act so maturely. _She's_ taking care of _me._ And somehow … it's a comforting thought that I'm being watched over.

"Goodnight," I say to her with a small smile. It doesn't take force to smile this time.

"Goodnight," she replies, eyes smiling a sincere smile.

But when I pull the covers up to my neck and hope to fall asleep quickly, no such miracle occurs, and my brain decides to replay all that has transpired this night.

How deranged Tsubasa has become. How she tricked me into coming to her lair. How many unanswered questions there still are.

How is it all possible? Less than a week ago, I was at home making salves and waiting for my father to return to the village, hoping that he was okay. Now I find out that he really wasn't my father, and this man had killed my mother. And my father is the most likely candidate for who is the mastermind of all of this. The weary look on Tsubasa's face haunts me still – she wasn't there completely freely. She had not wanted to be there. But she had gone along with it, at least, and she had used my love for her, my love for my sister, to manipulate me into falling into her plan, whatever it is.

But there's another question. Why bring me there, to the cave, if they were just going to let me go? They made no move to stop the Konoha shinobi from taking me away – in fact, Tsubasa had looked positively terrified at the prospect of them being there when they arrived. Why go through all the trouble of bringing me there? Tsubasa had only talked to me. She had only spoken to me, told me some incredibly shocking and important information, and then let me go. What was the purpose of all of that?

And suddenly, as if a dam had collapsed within me, all the emotions surge forth like an enormous, overwhelming wave.

Pain. Betrayal. Loss. Anger. Utter disbelief.

How could she do this to me? This was _Tsubasa_, my sister, the girl I had grown up with and loved for my entire life! I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up and found myself in my own bed, walked out of my own home, and ran into my sister, who would smile at me and ask how I slept the previous night.

The dam behind my eyes doesn't fare well either, and hot tears pour out in thick rivulets down the side of my face and soaking a small circle in my pillow.

But the tears are a catharsis. They cleanse away the sick, black feeling I've had since the bird deposited the paper on my windowsill, and they purge me of the guilt I've felt since leaving my village.

I'm no longer the one who betrayed my village and my loved ones. The man I've known to be my father for my entire life, and the girl I've thought was my sister – these two are the ones I can place my finger on now to blame, as selfish as it is. I don't want to feel guilt at leaving all the villagers behind, be they innocent or not, because at least the children are innocent. At least they have a clean slate. And if I can blame someone else, then I will take that opportunity with open arms and a selfish heart.

I cry and cry some more until there are no more tears in me to be shed, and even then, dry sobs hack their way up my throat. Sakura can hear me for sure, but I don't turn to apologize to her, or even try and stop my crying. Because it's helping me feel so much better.

And I cry until I'm exhausted, until I can't think about what's happened anymore, and finally at that point, my brain ceases to function and I fall into a blissful oblivion.

::~::

*_Spirit Beast_ – a giant catfish demon from ancient times. Was killed by Naruto and a Suna shinobi group after being revived by Gensho Ryudoin.

Hello fluffy rabbits of goodness, aka most beloved readers! Sorry about this completely un-fluffy chapter, but I thought it was quite necessary. Keeping a good story means sacrificing fluffiness. That's why this story is labelled Romance, but also Adventure :D Personally, I found this very interesting to write about, especially with the Spirit Beast. I mean, again, I haven't watched the episode when it's mentioned or played the video game, but rather I just looked it up on Wiki (but I have caught up now on the Sky Ninja by watching the movie! As I expected, it was quite vague about history so my story is able to fit in okay), and I thought, _AWESOME. _Anyhow, this chapter is a bit shorter (~1900 words) compared to the previous couple of chapters (~3000 words) but seeing as I originally planned for chapters to be ~2000 words, I'm not feeling very guilty. Also, this is my second chapter for today. :P 

OH MY GOODNESS. I have suddenly progressed a lot in planning this story. I write stories in a really weird way – I usually tend to start off not knowing what happens and then as I write a bit I "figure out" what happens. So … a couple of days ago if you were to ask me what happens in the end, I wouldn't know. Wait, actually, I still don't know what happens at the very end, but I have what happens _near_ the end. Or at least, like, how to explain everything that's happened so far. When I started this story, I never meant for it to become dark like Ch. 8 did. I was going to make Tsubasa and Kentaro and her dad great people who are merely misunderstanding her, but … eh, the story is _alive_. :) And on the topic of darkness, I fully intend to make it even darker. May have to change the rating to "M" if I'm going to follow through with what I'm thinking. And for a little treat, I'll tell you the name of a chapter that will be coming up, albeit quite late in the story… It'll be: _The Sparrow Unbound_. Muse all you want about it, but I'm not saying anymore! :) I'm just so happy I finally figured it out. Ugh, I hate it when my brain confuses itself. :( 

Anyhow, please (as usual) _**review**_, _**follow**_, and _**favourite**_! I really appreciate the reviews you guys post, and any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Like, really greatly. :) 

-Jennifer *BEAR HUGS*

P.S. I'm very displeased with the title of the chapter, but I figure a good one out, and I was impatient to post this chapter.


	10. The First Vision

The remainder journey back to Konoha is uneventful. Apart from the fact that I've fallen asleep on his back quite a few times now, and that he's made no comment about my face being pressed against his masked cheek when I wake, there's really nothing that's happened. The rest of the group seems to have toned down a bit in response to my quietness – poorly-disguised grief and guilt and frustration – and barely any talk goes on while we travel. I only spoke a few words to Sakura while we were in the same room in the second inn, and they were unimportant words at that.

"We're almost there," Kakashi says to me quietly. I'd just woken up a few minutes ago, and again he makes no comment about how close my face was to his. And for some reason, all of a sudden as he says this, a sort of hypersensitivity flares up within me, and I become extremely aware of Kakashi, even though we've been travelling like this for days. How my arms are thrown around his neck, almost like an embrace. How his hands secure my legs by holding me at the knees, and on my thighs. How my thighs are spread wide, around his waist. How my entire form presses against the whole line of his firm back.

He seems to notice this sudden change, and his eye glances at me. I force myself to relax, but relaxing just makes me press against him even more, in all the right places. I don't know what's come over me, but I suddenly feel incredibly wanton, and it's an unnerving feeling.

_It's not coming from me._

That's not possible, and I chastise myself for it. I feel odd, yes, but who wouldn't, travelling to the village I'd thought for years had destroyed my family and our way of life? Now it's a sanctuary, a place none of my nightmares from my old village could reach me.

Kakashi's scrutiny becomes more intent, and he's slowing down, almost to a stop. I blink at him, confused. "I'm fine," I lie. Seeing that the look doesn't waver, I sigh and tell him the truth. Most of it, at least. "I just feel a bit … out of sorts. I had a sudden feeling that the emotions weren't coming from _me_."

He frowns, but he seems to accept it, and keeps moving. "Who or where do you think it was from then?"

He's not jesting. He isn't mocking me. "I … I'm not sure," I say truthfully. "It's passed now," I add, and this is a little less truthful, though the feeling seems to have toned down a little.

I'm spared the prospect of his suspicion when a wall beyond what I can see through the branches of the trees. It's enormous, and _Fire_ is painted in red.

We've reached Konoha.

::~::

Kakashi sets me down as we near the gates, and we pass by two sleepy-looking guards by the door. They let us in without scrutiny, and salute in Tsunade's direction.

The village is enormous. Even the Sky village in which I grew up couldn't have compared to this village in size. As we near the heart of the village, the sheer number of villagers astounds me. There are merchants and nobles, shinobi and regular citizens alike here, and the entire village has a sort of rustic charm to it. There are mothers with babies walking around, pushing strollers before them as they converse and laugh with one another, and children weaving through the legs of villagers. People call out friendly greetings as they pass by store owners; Naruto waves a warm hello to a man and a young woman at a ramen store. And as I look further ahead, I see on the side of an enormous cliff the faces of the five Hokage. It's a majestic and worthy tribute to the deceased as well as the living leader of this proud village.

It's not at all how I had imagined Konoha to be.

We arrive at a circular red tower, which Kakashi tells me is the Hokage's office. As we walk towards it, I feel a wave of dizziness, but mark it off as some silly bout of vertigo. Being in the sun too much. We enter the building, and I see some shinobi glancing curiously at us. Two of them are particularly unsubtle. They're wearing tight green jumpsuits and have matching bowl-cuts.

Tsunade spares them a curt nod before saying to Kakashi, "Take your time. I need to fill out some paperwork and find Shizune before I can start on the full report for this mission. I'll give you further instructions later."

"Kakashi, my eternal rival, how goes it with you?" the taller shinobi booms. His loud voice is attracting much attention from the other shinobi around us, but he doesn't seem to notice. Beside me, Kakashi utters a small sigh.

"Fine – "

But before he can finish, the man interrupts. "You must introduce me to this lady at your side! It is not polite to keep a companion's identity from a good friend!" he says as he flashes me an exaggerated smile. His teeth are so white that it stings. My head spins a little.

I try to smile in return.

This time, Kakashi's sigh is a little more audible. As he introduces me, the smaller version of this man starts speaking to Sakura and Naruto. In particular, he seems to be very much in love with Sakura.

"…and Mirai, this is Gai, a … colleague and a friend of mine. And his student, Lee."

"It's very nice to meet you, Gai-san," I say, smiling at him. He takes my proffered hand and immediately I regret having stuck my hand out for a handshake, because his grip is like a metal vise. I try not to wince, but it's in vain.

He doesn't seem to notice. "Your youthful appearance is captivating!" he exclaims. "I do not believe I have had the pleasure of setting eyes upon you. Are you from outside this village?"

I nod. "I'm from … well, what used to be the Land of the Sky." Is it even right for me to say this anymore? I belong nowhere now.

His eyes widen at this and he's about to say something, but Kakashi interjects, much to my surprise. "Gai, just let it go for now. Some things have happened that need to be discussed, but not now." Thank goodness. Kakashi knows exactly when to interject.

"Of course, my dear comrade!" His loud voice is starting to give me a headache. The dizziness from before doesn't help. "I was just about to comment that my dear ex-pupil Neji has been quite lonely lately! It never bodes well when the youthful and in love are separated!" He laughs loudly.

"He's talking about Kiyomi-chan," Sakura whispers to me. This doesn't help much, but I just smile and nod, but the nod is making my dizziness even worse.

And out of the corner of my eye, I see Naruto whispering something in Lee's ear. Then suddenly the scene before me flickers, like a malfunctioning screen.

"Mirai!"

I hear a voice – it's Kakashi. But suddenly, everything before my eyes disappears, turns to a suffocating black.

::~::

"_You think you have power?" _

There's a man's voice in my head. No, not my head. There's no head here. I can't feel my body at all. There's only a feeling of weightlessness in this blackness.

I try to move what should be my hand, but there's nothing. Nothing at all. I try to move my arms despairingly, but to the same results.

"_N-No sir … please!"_

It's a woman's terrified shriek. For some reason, the sound sends horrible shivers through me. Whatever I am right now, a spirit or a projection or something. I twist around, back and forth, but there's no direction here whatsoever … the sounds comes from within.

"_Why did you rebel? You think you can escape from me! You little bitch!"_

A resounding slap and a sob.

"_Let me tell you something, you stupid girl. You're nothing. And you're less than nothing without me."_

Another loud slap. A small sob. But then the sob turns into a gasp of fear as I hear the ripping of fabric.

"_Please … please, no! PLEASE!"_

::~::

"Mirai!"

My eyes open as I utter a loud gasp.

I'm sitting on my behind, on the floor of the Hokage's tower. There are so many faces in front of me, but I only see Kakashi.

"What happened?" I manage to gasp – my lungs feel like they're being constricted. Kakashi is gripping my arm firmly and what is visible of his face is wary.

"You suddenly fell over, and you were still for a couple of seconds. Then your arms starting flailing and you screamed a couple of times."

He says this all in a rather impassive voice.

I blink wildly. The lights are starting to hurt my eyes and reawaken that headache. "I … something really weird happened," I mutter, mostly to Kakashi only. His grip on my arm turns slack, and he helps me up. Then he lets go of me rather quickly, and I glance at him, confused.

"Nee-chan, do you need to sit down somewhere?" Sakura says worriedly. I shake my head at her, despite my trembling legs.

"Maybe you should take her to Tsunade-sama," comes a low, gravelly voice. I glance up in surprise to see it coming from Gai's mouth. He looks sombre, and that changes his look a lot.

Kakashi nods, but it's Sakura who comes to my side and helps to support me. I give her a look of heartfelt appreciation as I lean heavily on her.

Our little trio must look very strange, I think as we walk up a flight of stairs. But I don't give it much thought as we reach very nondescript doors. Kakashi opens the door and lets us in first, and we enter a spacious room. Tsunade looks up from writing something on a desk, and there's a pretty, dark-haired woman by her side.

"What happened?" she says brusquely.

Kakashi is quiet, so I deem it fit for me to reply.

"I … had a vision." Seeing her eyebrows raise, I add hastily, "I'm not really sure what it was. It was … well, everything went dark, and I couldn't move. Everything was black around me, but I could hear voices and sounds." I hesitate.

"What did you hear?"

"A man … he was telling a woman that she had no power without him. And he was hurting her." The sound of her shrieks linger like smoke in my mind, unable to be cleared. "It scared me. She was scared too. And then I woke up."

Tsunade's face is unreadable. I try to straighten up, and I find that I don't need to lean on Sakura so much anymore.

"Has anything of this nature happened to you in the past?" Her voice is expressionless too. Just commanding.

"No, never."

"What were her physical symptoms?" she barks at Sakura.

Sakura seems to enter a reporting mode. "She convulsed suddenly and fell backwards. Kakashi-sensei caught her, and she was still for a few moments before her arms started to flail. He caught her arms to prevent her from causing bodily harm to anyone in the vicinity. Then she screamed a few times before coming to."

There's silence, and the Hokage stands up and proceeds to pace back and forth.

Just as I can't take it anymore, Sakura blurts out exactly what I wanted to say. "What does it all mean, shishou?"

The woman stops pacing, and turns to Sakura with a scrutinizing gaze. Finally, "I don't know, Sakura. I have never heard of anything like this happening before."

"But what's important right now is that we're here, and that all of us are safe," Kakashi cuts in, a little bit harshly. I can only see the side of his face that's covered, so no expression whatsoever. I can't detect any emotion, much less discern the reason for his coldness toward me from before. Not that it's the most important thing to be worrying about at this point, I tell myself hastily. "We should make living arrangements and go from there."

"I have space at my apartment," Sakura volunteers, and I turn to her in surprise. Her graciousness is overwhelming.

"I couldn't possibly –"

"No," Kakashi says suddenly, and I turn to him now. "She'll stay with me."

::~::

I blink. Several times. And then I shake my head slightly to clear it.

"What?" Sakura says exactly what I'm thinking.

Kakashi and Tsunade share a meaningful glance, and Tsunade nods. She crosses her arms. "Then it's settled."

"What's settled?" I blurt out. "I don't understand – why …"

_Why am I staying with him? Why are you acting so cold, and then offering for me to live with you? Why are you confusing me so much? _

"I don't understand either, shishou. Sensei," she directs at Kakashi. "I have space."

Tsunade frowns, and shoots Kakashi another look before her gaze comes back to me. "Look at it this way, Mirai," she says, and I realize it's the first time she's said my name, really acknowledging me. "You're a refugee from a country that has historically shown intentions to destroy us, we have no doubt that a weapon or a demon of some kind is in you, and you're having _visions_ of things that are certainly not happening anywhere near us." Sakura shoots me a pitying glance. "While I have no grudge against you personally, and while I believe Sakura is a very capable kunoichi, Hatake has been in our service for decades, and I would trust him implicitly to fulfil this sort of requirement. I fully understand your reluctance, but with him you have nothing to worry about. As well, he will ensure your safety as well."

_Nothing to worry about with him? _I have everything to worry about. I act recklessly around him. I'd betray my own people, my own family for him. What's wrong with me?

But all I do is say, very softly, "I understand."

::~::

Hello all! I just came back from a day at the beach with some friends, which is why my daily post is a bit late. …All right, you caught me. I was too busy reading another fic. But in my defense, it is an amazing story! Ugh, I feel very, very inferior and almost don't want to keep writing. But I love my OCs … and I hope to spread that love to everyone~ No, but seriously, OCs aren't as popular as I'd like and I'm hoping to see more good OC stories. I love a good romance, and it usually doesn't matter who the characters are as long as they're well-developed but sometimes too much, say, SakuraxKakashi or NejixTenten gets on my nerves. T-T

I've begun to realize how badly OOC my Kakashi is, but I'm too lazy (or too sad) to go back and change him in previous chapters. As it is, I'm going to make him a bit more in character here, and yes, reading others' Kakashi depictions is helping me. 

Hm, this was a bit of a filler again, unfortunately, but I don't want to rush the story. I'm extremely excited for all the action that's going to go on soon, but I don't want to rush the story. It's killing me, but I've got to just grit my teeth and hold out! :( You've got to do that too, I suppose.

Hope you guys are enjoying this, at least a little :3 As always, please _**review**_, _**follow**_, and _**favourite**_ if you really like me, or the story! :) Though preferably for the latter reason. 

-Jennifer *hugs*

**P.S. PLEASE READ. **I will be changing the rating from "T" to "M" sometime in the future (and I will make a little note in the beginning of the first chapter) just because of what I have planned in the very distant future. It won't be anything crazy anytime soon (and nothing crazy even a long ways off), and I'm not a smut writer (God, I wish I had that talent). However, if the story goes the way I intend there will be quite a bit of graphic violence and all. So just be warned. I have devious plans. :)


	11. The Flower Shop

Kakashi is cold towards me.

No, he doesn't ignore me outright, but his breezy tone of voice and the small, impersonal smiles that he gives me are even worse than that. I wish I could have stayed with Sakura instead.

His apartment is simple, but much nicer than I'd expected. Much nicer than any house I've ever lived in. But my potential happiness about seeing his apartment doesn't surface because of his quietness.

"You can sleep in the bedroom," he says, pointing to a half-closed door. I notice he hasn't taken his mask off yet. "The couch is where I usually sleep anyway."

"Oh, I couldn't do that," I say, even though my heart isn't into it. "This is your home. I'm just a …" I'm about to say guest, but that's not really what I am, is it?

He gives me another infuriatingly cold smile. "Don't worry about it."

And I let it go.

He orders for dinner to be delivered to the house while I shower. Because I have nothing but the clothes on my back, he somewhat grudgingly lends me a plain shirt and a pair of drawstring shorts that seem to be boxers. I blush at the latter article, but accept it thankfully.

It's odd to be dressed in his clothes and still see traces of his aversion towards me. The shirt and the shorts are big on me, and while that's all right for the shirt, I've pulled the shorts up quite a bit for the sake of my legs' comfort, but that means revealing much of my legs. I don't mind doing that, because if there's ever been anything I've been happy with physically, it's been my legs. I see Kakashi's visible eye widen slightly when I come out of the washroom, having finished washing my clothes and hanging them up in the bedroom, but it's an ephemeral and rare bit of emotion before he goes back to reading his book.

Dinner is eaten in silence, and I don't make the effort to talk to him. The thought of the vision, which I've forced out of my mind up until now, returns to me brandishing fearful possibilities. Is this my future? Is this what's going to happen to me? My mother had had dreams of having me before she became visibly pregnant – but that might be attributed to what Tsubasa has told me – which is why she had named me Mirai. Was this even a possibility?

It's not very late yet, but as soon as I finish dinner and wash the plates – taking his from the table before he gets back from answering a knock at the door – I bit him a polite goodnight and thank him for his hospitality. The tension is becoming increasingly uncomfortable, and I half-expect him to say something to me.

But of course, he doesn't. He smiles again, almost making anger bubble to my chest, and raises his hand in a wave as I close the door, probably a little harder than I should.

I'm _frustrated. _So frustrated with everything. Frustrated and betrayed and even mentally unstable. Everything, from the core of my foundations, has been shaken, including what I had thought to be my family – even the most beloved people in my life have turned out to be nothing like I expected, and nothing like what I thought I knew about them. And to top it off, the man I risked everything for, all the little pieces of the life I thought I knew, is inexplicably and suddenly so cold towards me. And I'm being forced to live with him.

There must be a sick, twisted almighty spirit up in the heavens, I think as I stare up at the ceiling. I bite my lip, forcing myself not to cry. I've cried too much already, and I've always done so. When I was maybe ten, and Tsubasa younger than me, our pet bird died. Both of us cried, but I cried for much longer than she did, even though she was much younger than me. I've never had a strong heart. I've never been able to keep myself from loving, and trusting, and look where it's gotten me now.

Against my wishes, a single tear leaks out from my eye. And I choke down the rest of my frustration and force myself to sleep.

::~::

The next day, I get up early at six in the morning. But by the looks of it as I come out of the room, Kakashi has not only already gotten up, but he's already fixed and eaten breakfast. There's a bowl with some congee and an assortment of spices and vegetables to put in it. The man himself is nowhere to be seen, to my slight and inexcusable dismay.

I eat breakfast slowly, not knowing what to do after. After washing my bowl and putting the other items into an empty-looking refrigerator, I notice a key on the table. I take it that it's meant for me, and I exit the apartment, locking the door behind me, half-expecting Kakashi to appear out of thin air and stop me.

But he doesn't.

I try to remember where I've walked in order to be able to get back to Kakashi's home, but I soon give up, hoping that there will be somebody kind enough to give me directions back home. I don't have any money with me, but it really doesn't matter. I'm content to walk through the village, just looking around. Now it is much quieter in the village than when I had arrived, giving it a peaceful, sleepy atmosphere.

Suddenly I catch a scent I hadn't imagined would be in such a large village, and I follow it eagerly, half-expecting a beautiful meadow to be at the end of my journey.

But I'm disappointed when all I find is a flower shop. Though, as I look more closely, the flowers are exceptionally well-kept.

"A bit early in the day to be looking for flowers on a date, isn't it?" comes a voice, and I look up to see a middle-aged woman with light brown hair.

I flush. "Oh no," I say, "I just followed the scent of your _artimisia absinthium_ here. I was really surprised when I caught a whiff of it."

The woman's brow furrows a little, but she seems to be amused. "We normally just call it wormwood, so I'm surprised you know the proper name for it. And I'm very surprised you could detect it and follow its scent here!" She laughs.

I smile, a little bit self-consciously. "I'm new in Konoha, actually," I confess, "and I noticed a bit of something I have at home. I was really excited and I thought there might be a meadow or something around here."

The woman laughs again, and there's a sudden shout.

"Mom, have you seen my hairbrush? You know, the pink one that I always –"

The owner of the voice appears at the top of a staircase at the back of the shop that seems to lead up to a residence. She's a bit younger than me, and has long blonde hair that hangs down to her waist, even longer than mine. It's evidently uncombed, and her bright blue eyes are a bit surprised at the sight of me.

"Oops, sorry," she says, a little flippantly, "I didn't think there'd be any customers at this time of day."

"This is my daughter Ino," the woman says, seeming to be a little bit annoyed by her daughter's sudden intrusion. "Ino … well, actually, I don't really know your name, dear."

"I'm Mirai," I say quickly, not sure if I should shake her hand.

"I'm Kaori," she says with a warm smile. I guess handshakes aren't the norm around here. "Ino, Mirai isn't from around here. Why don't you show her around the shop for a little while? I should go wake your dad up. He has a meeting with Ibiki today," she says, seeming as if she's talking to herself. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Mirai."

The girl Ino looks a little bit disgruntled, but as she comes up to me, a sudden light of interest comes to her eyes.

"Your name is Mirai? Are you from the Sky country?"

Stunned at her sudden question, I blink wordlessly. "Um … yes, I am. H-How did you know?" I ask, feeling a bit unnerved. Is it the clothes I wear? But no, my clothes are completely normal. Quite plain and nondescript actually, especially next to this girl's bright purple ninja garb.

"Oh, don't worry," she says with a laugh, taking in my shocked expression. "I heard it from Sakura. We're … friends."

"Oh," I nod in understanding. "What a coincident," I say with a bit of a shaky laugh. "Sakura is an amazingly kind person."

"Yes, yes, of course," the girl says rather dismissively. Does she not like Sakura? But they must be friends for her to know of my existence so quickly. "Let me show you around the shop."

The daffodils, tulips, and wildflower arrangements out front are colourful and mainly to catch passers-by attention. Inside the shop are some of the most delightful flowers I've ever seen. There are beautiful bouquets of roses and flowering chrysanthemum bushes. But my favourites are the pots of blush-pink camellias.

"These camellias are just exquisite!" I exclaim.

"Yes, well, they are a lot of work to maintain," Ino says waspishly. "They're the only plants around here we have to water _twice_ every single day."

"And what are these?" I ask, spotting plants with white petals but a bright purple center.

Ino looks a bit surprised. "You know all these other flowers but not these? These are orchids, and they're really popular."

I shake my head. "I've never seen them before."

At this point, Kaori comes back down the staircase with a blond-haired man who bears a striking resemblance to his daughter. He gives me a polite nod as he sees me.

"Bye honey," he says, kissing his wife's temple as he pulls her in for a one-armed hug. I do my best not to stare, but it's such a casual yet tender little action that draws me in. He hugs his daughter too, and leaves.

For some twisted reason, my mind decides to conjure up an image of Kakashi.

I bite my tongue, horrified.

"…but she didn't recognize the orchid!" Ino is saying to her mother. Her mother laughs, giving a little shrug.

"She _is_ from quite far away. But your knowledge about flowers is exceptional," she says to me.

I feel my cheeks grow a little bit warm. "Thank you, but I have never seen such a beautiful flower shop before." Not even my mother's garden, from which I learned most of this knowledge, could compare.

"We try our best," she says.

"I actually work more with herbs than decorative flowers," I say. "Where I came from, I was the one who made most of the salves and such in my village."

Kaori looks very intrigued. "We have a section for herbs out in the back garden. Would you like to come take a look?"

"Oh … I'd love to, really, but I shouldn't intrude so much on your time. I don't even have any money with me, so I couldn't even buy anything."

She waves a dismissive hand in the same air as her daughter. "Nobody comes into the shop so early in the morning, and it's always wonderful to see someone as young as you have an interest in botany. My daughter," she says, frowning a little, "takes after her father and would rather go out to train than help me out a little here."

I stifle a bit of a smile as Ino huffs. "Well, thank you very much," I say quite sincerely and I follow Kaori to the back garden.

There is a large section devoted to roses, a beautiful enclosed area with all the colours of roses one could name. The scent is wonderful, and the sheer number of roses makes the usually-faint scent of roses permeate throughout the entire garden. But to the side, a much less eye-catching garden captures my attention instead.

"Oh!" I exclaim. "There's everything I used to grow here! And my favourite – that's where the scent of _artimisia_ came from! And lovage – that's one of the ones I always have a big supply of… Majoram too! You wouldn't believe how badly headaches run in our family …"

_Our family. _I stop my gushing for a moment. Was it really right to call them my family anymore?

"And winter savory," Kaori says, seeming to not notice my pause. She picks a small sprig and inhales the scent deeply.

"Oh," I say, distracted by yet another one of my favourite plants – though I wasn't able to find seeds for it for my garden. _Winter savory? _What an odd nickname. To me, it's the _satureia hortensis_. Mother used to put this in almost every one of her medicines to mask bitterness or strange tastes of other herbs. Kaori hands me the sprig and I inhale deeply too.

"Would it be possible for me to help you out here?" I ask shyly. "I mean, I don't need pay – there's someone taking care of me – but it would just make me so happy to be amongst nature again, at least somewhat."

Kaori looks a little surprised. "Oh dear, I would absolutely love the company. Ino is usually off with her teammates training, and I'm here for most of the day … I can't let you just work here with no pay though. We'll work out something reasonable, and you can come in whenever you're not busy."

A wave of happiness comes over me – something I haven't felt for a while – and I hug the older woman suddenly, who is a bit surprised at first, but pats my shoulder a little eventually.

"I know how you must be feeling," she says wisely. "Our Fourth Hokage's wife also came from another village, and I witnessed them falling in love. Even though he meant so much to her, it was hard for her to get used to Konoha sometimes."

And so she offers me a ridiculously high salary – ridiculous only by my standards, she tells me – that I manage to bring down just a little bit before she shakes her head and says it's final. Well, at least I won't have to depend on Kakashi so much. Maybe eventually I could even move out, if everything was quiet for some time. Kaori insists on giving me a week's worth of pay when I accidentally let it slip that I came here with nothing but the clothes on my back, and I can't do anything to refuse the older woman.

"But who on earth are you staying with?"

"Oh, Hatake Kakashi."

She nearly drops the flowerpot she's holding and gapes at me. "Kakashi-san?" And when I nod, confusion written plain on my face, she says in a quiet sort of voice, "He's not really the social sort of man. He had a bit of a difficult childhood." But she stops, a little bit suddenly. "That's not to say that he's not a great man. All the shinobi in Konoha consider him with great respect. He's one of the finest shinobi you'll meet." She sounds a little proud, and I don't ask what she meant by his difficult childhood. If I'm to know, it should come from him.

I thank the woman profusely, feeling rather guilty walking away with a week's pay and only having done a few hours of work late that evening. And she had given me lunch, too. She gives me directions back to Kakashi's home – directions that I'm not at all sure I can remember – and eventually I manage to find my way back, though I do happen to arouse a strong headache.

Greatly relieved when I find his room number, I use the key, but find that the door is already unlocked. As I enter, I see his now-familiar form on the couch, sitting with a particularly bad posture. He seems to be asleep.

"How was your day?"

All right, apparently not asleep. Maybe my entering woke him up.

"Fine," I say politely, cringing at the vagueness of my answer as he gets up from the couch. Wasn't I the one who hated his impersonal attitude? I amend, "I found some work at the flower shop."

"Good for you." I don't know what I had expected him to say, but his lack of response irritates me. I dig out the little bag of coins from my pocket.

"I should pay you for rent and all."

"That's not necessary."

"I'm obviously intruding on –"

"It's not necessary," he says, and I look up at him across from me. The tone of his voice suddenly changed into one of firm finality. Commanding. My head gives another throb.

I'm not an assertive person, and I can't seem to come up with anything to say to this, except to say it in a meek tone. "I'd just like to thank you for all you've done."

His mask is on, I realize, and I don't have the nerve to ask him to take it off. But he smiles that enigmatic little smile, and for some reason, it's not as cold as before. "You saved my life," he said simply.

Did I really save his life? It's a question I've been pondering for a while now. I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't spotted his body in the woods. He probably would have gotten up in a few days and been on his merry way. He just seems so resilient it's impossible for him to just die like that.

And coldness comes over me again. Who am I to say I know anything about this man? I still don't know the reason for his being in that forest that day. How he managed to change my life. And by change my life, I mean turn it upside-down and mash it up into little unfathomable, confusing, and most of all, frustrating pieces.

I look away from him. I don't want to think anymore, and especially not with this headache that's only getting worse by the second.

"Hey," he says suddenly, and I freeze when I feel his fingers on my chin, making me turn to face him again. "Is there something wrong?"

_Yes. You're acting cold and distance, and quite frankly, it's scaring me. I need comfort, and I need to be able to talk with you about my fears, my worries, and about the future, in general. How it's going to be. Am I going to be staying here forever under your surveillance? Can't your Hokage tell that I'm powerless and there's nothing that can possibly make me turn against you? I saved you on an impulse, yes, but you should be able to tell by the way I've acted up to now that I trust you all, even your Hokage. I would do anything to help you. But the way you're acting is making me feel scared. Alone. Please, talk to me. _

"No," I say instead, because I sound like a whiny little child, and because explaining all of that would take too long, and take up too much energy. My headache is simply unbearable now. And then for the first time in my life, I fake a smile, one that actually looks genuine despite all the pain, both physical and emotional. "Of course nothing is wrong."

And suddenly my self-control shatters, and a look of alarm crosses his face before everything in the room disappears into a swirl of black, black, and more black.

::~::

"_Your father didn't intend to tell you about your powers."_

It's the same voice as before, but this time there's something else. Smell. I can smell a musky, acidic scent in the blackness of the void. I don't try to move.

"_He didn't want to let you know. Let go of him. Come with me, and we will rule the world together."_

I can feel fear, like a trembling moth in the air.

"_Yes … master."_

It's the woman's voice again, and she says it in a barely-audible whisper. There's a laugh, a cold, emotionless laugh.

"_Good … you don't even expect to be an equal to me. Good …" _There's a little intake of breath. _"We'll kill her, and we'll have nothing standing between us and glory."_

There's undisguised greed in that voice.

And suddenly that trembling fear erupts into a desperate desire to escape, like a struggling moth doused in water.

"_No … not again, please! PLEASE!"_

::~::

Hello, wonderful readers! Say hello to chapter 11 and all the frustrations that come with it. 

Oh god, this is terrible. I didn't mean to make Kakashi like this. It's the fanfic I'm reading that's making his character like this. Ugh! I knew I shouldn't have started reading it. T-T I'm so sorry, but I love you (Big Bang ftw). Maybe you'll forgive me because this chapter is pretty long. And that "sick, twisted almighty spirit" is me, in case you didn't catch my drift in the beginning of the chapter. 

All this tension … it's leading up to something big. And that's all I'm going to say! :) 

As per usual, please _**review, follow, and favourite**_! :)

-Jennifer *haggles*


	12. The Inconceivable

_Recap: _

"_No," I say instead, because I sound like a whiny little child, and because explaining all of that would take too long, and take up too much energy. My headache is simply unbearable now. And then for the first time in my life, I fake a smile, one that actually looks genuine despite all the pain, both physical and emotional. "Of course nothing is wrong."_

_And suddenly my self-control shatters, and a look of alarm crosses his face before everything in the room disappears into a swirl of black, black, and more black. _

_::~::_

I wake up, breathing heavily, but at least my arms aren't being restrained this time.

"Are you all right?" says – who else? – Kakashi. I notice I'm lying on the couch, so he must have carried me here. "What happened this time?"

I swallow hard, and grimace as I taste blood in my mouth. I must have bitten my tongue during that nightmare.

"She was being hurt again," I mumble. "The same woman. For some reason …" _For some reason, I think she's me. I think I'm having visions of my future. Please, tell me that I'll be okay. Tell me that you'll protect me. _

"'For some reason?'" he prompts.

"For some reason … she sounds familiar," I finish lamely. But the man's voice rings in my mind.

_Your father didn't intend to tell you about your powers. _

It could be me, couldn't it? But no … he isn't even my father, if what Tsubasa had claimed was true. He was only Tsubasa's father.

Tsubasa.

"It's _her_!" I exclaim in a horrified epiphany. "The woman that's being tortured is her – Tsubasa!"

She's in trouble. She's being tortured in a chamber, and she has nowhere to escape to. I almost cry in frustration – how is it that I'm so far from her now that she needs help?

"The one who lured you into a trap by saying she was in danger?"

I nod, but then I look up in surprise. His voice had just betrayed the slightest bit of anger.

"Was there anything else that was different about this vision?" he continues quickly, as if trying to make me forget about his lapse in emotional control. It works.

"Yes," I say, the cogs in my mind turning. "I could smell. I could hear and smell."

"And before you could only hear? What did you smell?"

I'm about to answer, but then I suddenly hesitate, snapping my mouth shut. What did I smell? What was that smell in the vision?

_Sex. _

It was the smell of sex. Of lust and fear, of sweat and sex.

He had raped her.

"Mirai?"

"I smelled … sweat." The acidic tang of sweat.

Kakashi seems to frown, and for a horrified but also relieved moment, I think I see understanding dance across his face. He knows what I'm omitting, and takes it in stride.

"Is your sister manipulating you again?" he asks, voice soft.

I gulp. The mere thought of it hadn't even crossed my mind. All I could think was that I needed to go help her. I needed to go save her.

Was that it? The thought of saving someone?

Kakashi hadn't really needed my help, not for a long time. But I'd kept on pestering him, kept trying to mother him. Was Tsubasa in the same situation, but now using it against me?

"No," I say, and then I realize I've said it out loud. "No. It definitely wasn't faked." My voice grows a little stronger, and as I think about it, she really couldn't have been deceiving me. "Tsubasa cannot tolerate pain. And she isn't a good actor. If I'm right and the woman I can hear is her, then … it's not a trick."

Kakashi is silent for a few moments. Then, quite suddenly, "Well, that's that. Let's go out for dinner."

I gape at him. "What?"

He gives me a smile. A very impersonal one. "I said, let's go out for dinner. I haven't properly thanked you for saving my life." If I'm not mistaken, he says this in a rather cheerful tone.

"I…" I'm at a loss for words. I don't know what to say to make him understand, so I try the blunt truth. "Kakashi, my sister is being raped right now! I can't just –"

"What would you have me do?" he interrupts, cheery tone gone. He's back to the emotionless option. "Where do you want to start? Do you want me to accompany out of the village and then look in every nook and cranny for her?"

I stare at him, lips slightly parted.

He's right. Of course he's right. I hadn't even considered what I could possibly do. And he's given me a pretty clear answer – nothing. I can't do anything about it.

_But … _

There are no "buts". There is absolutely nothing I can do. Nothing _we_ can do.

"You're right," I whisper.

"A rare occasion," he says, cheery tone back. "Now, let's go. I was thinking _shabu-shabu_* – that's one of my favourites."

Eventually though, he lapses into silence again. It's obvious that he's not really the talkative type, even when he's pretending to be friendly.

We reach the restaurant and he asks for a private room, which piques my interest until I realize it's probably only because he doesn't want his face to be seen while he's eating. The air of mystery and all. If he would just ask me, I'd tell him he's a bit too mysterious.

We end up in a small room with a sliding door, with the design of cranes in flight.

When I'm passed the menu, I just shake my head and ask Kakashi to choose what to eat. He raises an eyebrow when I say this, but all I can do is look down at the table and wait for him to order.

"So where were you for most of the day?" I ask finally when the waiter takes his order and the menus. Kakashi pours us both a cup of tea. He still hasn't removed his mask.

"Oh, me? I was training my team."

I blink. "You train Naruto and Sakura on a daily basis?"

"Nope. They're not my students anymore. I have a new genin team."

"Oh," I say, and now I'm really a bit interested. "What are they like?"

"Nasty little brats."

Well then. "Care to describe them in more detail?"

"There's an idiot boy, a stuck-up girl, and a boy who's even more stupid than both of the others added together."

Never mind. Maybe I should change the topic a little, though I'm quite interested in his students. "What do you do to train them?"

"Well," he says thoughtfully, his one visible eye glancing upwards. "I tried to teach them chakra control by making them climb trees using just their feet. One boy was able to do it, but the other two just gave up."

"And then?" I prompt him.

"I got angry at them, because they were angry at me. So I threw them up a tree. Oh, I tied their hands first."

I don't know what the expression on my face looks like, but I imagine it's one of shock. "Are they okay?" I manage to say in my horrified state.

"The really stupid boy broke an arm, but Sakura-chan fixed him right back up."

I shudder a little. I'd never marked Kakashi as a cruel sort of man, but hearing what he's willing to do with his students…

But Naruto and Sakura seemed to adore him – apart from a bit of fear on Naruto's part. I can't imagine he's the type to act too differently around students he likes, and those he doesn't like. Maybe he just exaggerates things, or makes himself seem like a worse person than he really is. He certainly seems like the type capable of doing it. Yes, that must be it. He's not really that bad.

The waiter brings the order, and asks us if we know how to use the stove. Kakashi waves him away, seeming to be quite ready to start eating.

I watch the man as he carefully drops the food into the hot water. There's a little crease on his brow, one that makes my hand itch to smooth out. He's not cruel. Of course he's not. Even if he is a bit insensitive at times, and doesn't even care when he knows my sister could be in the middle of being raped …

For the sake of saying something to stop my thoughts from going down a darker lane, and because I'm honestly wondering about this, I ask, "When are you planning on taking off that mask?"

"When I have to," he answer coolly.

I can't help it – I pout.

He merely raises an eyebrow. "I've never seen you do that."

"I've never seen you in a good mood," I counter grumpily.

His eyebrow threatens to disappear under his forehead protector. "Am I really that bad?"

I blink at him. "Sorry," I sigh, "I'm just not in a very good mood right now."

He pulls down his mask slowly, and I'm rewarded with the sight of his handsome face again. "Am I really that bad?" he repeats, and this time I can see his lips move to form the words. It's somewhat hypnotizing.

"I didn't mean that. Really."

"Well, when do you think I'm in a good mood?"

He's really not letting this go, is he? I wince, wishing I could just turn the time back a single minute.

"Well…" _When you actually talk to me without inhibitions and without hiding anything. When you stop with that façade of not caring about anything. _Now that I consider it, there have only been two times he's done that. Once, at the inn, just before I kissed him, but at that time, he was probably _not_ in a good mood. And the second time would have to be right now. "I think you're in a good mood right now."

"Hmm," is all he says. The water in the hot pot starts to boil, and he looks a bit excited. I almost smile at this little slip of his. I'd never imagined that someone like him could get excited about food. He removes the lid and grabs the wiry ladle – there are holes so that one can scoop out the solid food without getting too much soup. "Here," he says, and he dumps an entire ladle-full of meat into my bowl before I can protest.

"I can't eat that much!" I exclaim. "You've given me too much!"

"Then you'd better start eating."

"_You _start eating, yourself!"

It occurs to me that we're bickering, and it's a shocking revelation. Someone like _him_ is capable of bickering. It's just inconceivable.

It's a stare-down. He's waiting for me to eat first, and he's trying to intimidate me into doing it. But I won't let him win this time.

I slowly pick up my chopsticks and pick up a piece of beef, as if I'm giving in. And then I carefully judge the distance between us.

And suddenly I stuff the piece of beef against his lips.

"You touched it!" I say triumphantly, sensing a victory. It's juvenile, I know, but a victory is a victory, and I feel a certain amount of pride. After all, he is a high-ranking ninja, isn't he?

Then long fingers encircle my wrist quite gently. In my surprise, I drop the strip of meat into his bowl. I frown, wondering what he's about to do, and almost jump when his thumb strokes the sensitive underside of my wrist.

And promptly steals my chopsticks from me.

Then he does the same thing to me, except I'm too embarrassed to let it fall, and so I eat it without much dignity.

I sigh. "You could have just eaten it."

There's something akin to a smirk on his face. "What fun would that have been?"

"A lot of fun for me."

He laughs.

I freeze.

He's _laughing_. Never mind bickering, but he's _laughing_. And there's no way he's faking that. I don't care how good he might be at acting, but this is a genuine chuckle.

"Did … something happen today?" I ask hesitantly. "Something good?"

"Hmm?"

I take in his look of not-yet-disappeared laughter, and lock the memory deep in my mind, somewhere it won't be lost. "Never mind," I say with a bit of a smile.

We eat mostly in silence for the rest of the meal, but it's an amiable silence that doesn't have any of the awkwardness or emptiness that had been there on the way here. He orders _matcha_* ice cream as the waiter takes away the bowls and cutlery we used for the main part of the meal – at this time, his mask is on again – and when the waiter brings the ice cream, I glare at him.

He chuckles and begins to eat without looking back up. Satisfied, I eat too, smiling at our little exchange. Who knew he could make me smile like this?

As always, he's done first and he watches me finish the last bit of ice cream. I feel a bit self-conscious – his gaze is a little too intense for my liking – and I try to eat a bit more elegantly. Smaller spoonfuls. No tongue to lick the bowl. No, I can't resist that last one, and I lick the bowl quickly, looking down and hoping he didn't see.

He sees. And he looks a bit surprised. I put the spoon in my mouth, gaze fixed on one of the cranes on the sliding door, and play with the spoon.

I hear a little, sharp inhalation of breath.

I turn to Kakashi and there's a strange expression on his face, but at that moment, the waiter slides the door open.

"Are you ready for the bill?" he asks brightly, and I want to slap him. Coming from me, that's quite a bit of irritation.

Though Kakashi still appears a bit distracted. "Oh – yes. Of course."

The waiter collects the ice cream bowls – and the spoons – with a flourish and leaves behind a bit of an awkward atmosphere.

Then I realize why Kakashi had gasped. What I was doing with the spoon …

I flush scarlet, looking anywhere but at him.

Thankfully the waiter returns quickly, and Kakashi pays quickly before we leave – also quickly.

"I liked the ice cream," I say awkwardly in hopes of dispelling this strange, uncomfortable atmosphere. Just my luck – I only make it worse, and Kakashi merely nods and smiles an impersonal smile. His mask covering most of his face again, but I can tell it's one of those cold smiles. I purse my lips.

"Are you cold?" he asks suddenly.

"No," I reply, a little bit startled. It's quite dark out, but I feel completely safe with him – nobody would attack us knowing that one of us is _him_. "Erm, why?"

He shrugs, hands in his pockets. "No particular reason."

I'm not really cold, but I'm intrigued. "All right, I'm a little bit cold," I lie, watching his expression carefully.

And suddenly he pulls me into a one-armed embrace.

I don't just say that he put his arm around my shoulders, because he draws me much closer than that. Physically and emotionally, it seems to me. Is he opening up to me?

But for the rest of the walk home, he doesn't say anything.

And when did his apartment become _home_ to me? My home is … no, I don't have a home. Not anymore. I don't belong back in the Sky refugee village, but I don't belong here either, do I? So where exactly does that leave me?

And how on earth does this man make me forget my nightmares, those horrifying visions of what could be happening to my sister? I realize I haven't thought about it since he started talking about his team. Maybe he's doing this on purpose – trying to help me forget about bleaker, blacker things. Maybe. But what I've learned is that he's not really the most sensitive person, and it would surprise me if he would sacrifice his personal space, the personal space he values so much, just to ease me of some day-mares.

But maybe he would. This man never ceases to surprise – and oftentimes, dazzle – me with strange little acts that seem to come out of nowhere.

"Thank you for dinner," I say softly as he locks the door behind him. And when he turns around, I lean forward to kiss him on the cheek. A masked cheek, but the thought is clear either way.

He's silent, but he nods. I take this as my cue to go away. Just as I'm about to say goodnight, and have one hand on the bedroom door, he says, "You should get up early tomorrow."

"Why?" I ask, my heart jumping a little. Is he … is he going to take me out for the day?

He seems to hesitate a moment. "Tsunade-sama needs to take a better look at your seal."

Oh. Right. And suddenly all the worries and fears I've had come crashing right back.

"All right," I say in a little more than a whisper. "Goodnight then, Kakashi."

"Goodnight."

::~::

*_shabu-shabu_ – Japanese hot pot.

*_matcha _– green tea.

Hmm, what do you think of this one? There will be (hopefully, if I remember, that is) a reason for Kakashi's mood swings, and it will be (if I remember) mentioned in future chapters. But maybe not and you can just overlook it as a favour to me. :) Anyhow, I enjoyed writing this chapter as a little break from the gloom-and-doom part of the story. As you can tell, Mirai experiences the same thing, like a respite from this nightmare she's living, and then having it all brought back in her face. However, I think this respite is a nice one – don't you? 

Looks like the anticipation is brewing and the atmosphere is nice and ready for a big event to happen … But for now, what do you guys think of Kakashi here? Is he OOC? I tried my best here, and personally I'm quite satisfied, but that might just be my laziness telling me that "good enough is good enough." 

I'd love to hear your opinions, so _**review, follow, favourite**_! 

-Jennifer *hugs as always*

P.S. I noticed I wrote *haggles* in the previous chapter … stupid spell-check! 


	13. The Falcon and the Sparrow

That night, I sleep peacefully despite knowing what awaits me the next day.

When I wake, it's early, but certainly not early enough that I can hope to be up before Kakashi. I'm dressed in his clothes again – the large shirt and boxer shorts – which I changed into after my late shower last night, and I roll up the sleeves as I exit the room.

It looks like I'm up a bit earlier than I had been yesterday. He's at the breakfast table, reading his book.

"Yo," he says, barely looking up from his book. I blink at him. That's a strange way of saying good morning.

"How did you sleep?" I ask politely. I cross my fingers and pray that he's in a good mood today. Yesterday's events certainly made me happy, but only more confused in the long run. I still don't understand this man whatsoever.

"I slept well. And you?"

"Same," I say, giving a hesitant smile, but he's still not really looking away from his book. I'm going to have to read it and see why he's so interested in it someday. "I'm glad you didn't prepare breakfast yet. I bought some steamed buns yesterday because I noticed you had the equipment needed to cook them in your cupboards."

Then a thought occurs to me – maybe he didn't cook breakfast because he noticed the additions to his nearly-empty fridge.

"How thoughtful."

That's the best I'll get out of him, I realize despairingly. There's no on-off switch to him at all, and I can't push him to loosen up. Well, at least his mask is down this morning. I can't imagine it would be very hygienic – or comfortable, for that matter – to be wearing a mask all the time.

I sigh softly and fill the pot with water, cooking in silence. Out of habit, I begin to hum as I cook, something I've done for as long as I can remember. Today what comes to mind is an old love song I've known forever, and that I've loved forever. The words have been lost over time, but the melody is beautiful, flowing, and easy to follow. My mother told me that the song was about a woman having to let her lover leave her and suffer by herself just to allow her lover to live better, without her.

When I turn back, I'm surprised that Kakashi's book is lowered and his visible eye is on me.

I try to ignore this, even though it makes me tremble a little – in the best way possible. "Here's breakfast," I say, and I use chopsticks to place two steamed buns before him. I take one for myself – there are three left, enough for tomorrow's breakfast.

"Thank you," he says with a smile. It's still a bit of an impersonal smile, but it holds a hint of sincerity, and that's enough to appease me.

"Milk?" I ask, reaching into the fridge. Another item I picked up yesterday – I haven't ever gone so long without milk.

He makes a face. "No, I'm okay."

"You have something against milk?" I ask, feigning hurt as I pour myself a glass.

"I just don't really drink it."

Suddenly an image of Kakashi drinking milk pops into my mind – he's right, it just doesn't seem like him. I giggle, and the carton of milk slips in my hand, spilling onto the tiled kitchen floor.

"Oops," I say, even though the traces of laughter are still on my face as I grab a washcloth and lean down, dabbing at the puddle on the floor. One time isn't enough to dry all of it up, so I wring out the cloth in the sink and do it again. And for some reason I feel the intensity of Kakashi's eyes on me, though I'm not sure why.

"Are you going to be buying new clothes soon?" he asks quietly as I return to the table.

"Um, yes, I was going to today," I say, surprised, pulling out my chair to sit down.

_Oh_. My face becomes heated as I realize the shorts must have ridden up as I bent down to mop up the spill. A bit too high. That's why he was staring?

Our meal is eaten in a bit of an awkward silence, but it's more embarrassment on my part. Does it bother him? Or did it … _do_ something for him? I blush.

"We should get going to the hospital," Kakashi says, pocketing his book as I finish clearing up the table.

"Yes. Let me just go change quickly."

It doesn't surprise that even early in the morning, he's dressed in his daily wear already – I wouldn't be surprised to know he sleeps with that mask on.

I pull on my own clothes quickly, which I suddenly feel are inadequate and peasant-like. Maybe it would be best to get the shopping done as quickly as possible.

The walk to the hospital takes us almost to the flower shop, and I decide I should drop by to let Kaori know that I won't be coming in today. Kakashi doesn't say anything about my decision, and merely nods, standing to the side as I venture into the flower shop.

"Kaori-san?" I call timidly. Someone walks down the stairs, and I realize it's not Kaori, but her husband.

"Hi Mirai," he says in a friendly tone, though he does intimidate me a little still. He's really tall, and the lines on his face suggest a difficult life. "My wife's still getting ready to come down. Are you going to be working here today? Or…" he glances up at Kakashi's unassuming form at the entrance of the shop. As always, he's reading his book.

"I'm not going to be staying long today," I say apologetically. "I … I have to go to the hospital to do some check-ups, and I just wanted to drop by and say that I'm sorry, and thanks to Kaori-san for all that she's done for me already."

He smiles at me warmly. "She likes company, my wife does. And I feel very sorry sometimes that I can't give it to her a lot of the time, so I'm glad a young lady like you is able to make her happy. I'll pass on your message."

"Thank you, Mr. Yamanaka," I say, and bow to him before exiting the shop. The two shinobi nod at each other. His obvious love for his wife … it's heart-warming.

Reaching the hospital only takes a few minutes, and we're greeted by Shizune, who seems to have been waiting for us. I apologize for our lateness, and she waves it away, saying that she was used to tardiness from Kakashi, leading us away without hearing out my explanation.

I glance at Kakashi, who doesn't react.

She leads us up a flight of stairs and directs us into a small hospital room with a single bed, where I see Tsunade and a girl with long, reddish hair.

"Hi," the girl says to me. "Mirai, right? My name is Amaru. I was an apprentice of Shinno's."

::~::

I step back in shock. Shinno's apprentice … in Konoha?

Even though we've long nursed a grudge towards Konoha, the survivors of the Sky don't deny that Shinno's attack on Konoha was premature and led to the destruction of our civilization. It was really his fault that we were tossed back into a primitive style of living, one that we'd just managed to overcome through years of hard work and effort to rebuild our civilization.

"No, don't worry," Amaru says hastily, seeing my expression. "I'm not like him. I help people now, in Konoha. Naruto helped me through it all, learning what Shinno-sensei was really planning to do… Please, I'm only here to help."

"I'm sorry," I murmur. "I was just … very surprised. I'm very grateful to you for trying to help me, and I apologize for jumping to conclusions."

The girl smiles in relief, and I chastise myself for making her feel uncomfortable with my hasty judgement. She isn't dressed in the medical-nin uniform, but rather in peasant-like civilian clothes, not much different from mine. She has slightly boyish looks, though her eyes are very feminine and quite stunning.

"Tsunade-sama asked me to tell you about my experience with a lesser-known demon. I was possessed by the Reibi, which was the source of Shinno's power." My eyes widen. Shinno had never said anything about utilizing the power of a demon … but what was I expecting anyway? "Hardly anybody else knew of its existence."

"It wasn't one of the nine demons formed from the Ten-Tails, which is why it wasn't widely known," Tsunade says. "But its existence proves that our knowledge of demons is insufficient."

"But," Amaru says, "I did manage to salvage some of Shinno-sensei's belongings after he … after he died." She bites her lip, but she doesn't hesitate to grab an thin, tattered book from the bedside table. "I've studied all the texts quite extensively. There is mention of many different demons here, but some of them are likely to be only myths."

"There are detailed descriptions in there," Tsunade says, "of the capabilities of each of the ancient demons, and symptoms of a patient who has come into contact with the demon's chakra. Or what we expect for your case, a patient who has the demon or part of the demon, sealed inside of your body."

"So you want me to tell you what symptoms I've been having?" I ask hesitantly. Tsunade nods. "Well … I had another vision yesterday," I admit, glancing at Kakashi. His masked face betrays no emotion. "It was quite similar to the first, except that … instead of just being able to hear what was being said, I could smell, as well."

"You had a vision of another place?" Amaru says sharply. "It was somewhere you've never been before?"

I shake my head, confused. "It wasn't somewhere I'd been … it was in a bedchamber, and … the man was hurting the woman." _He raped her. _"I … I think the woman was my sister."

"Your sister?"

I nod at the girl. "My sister, Tsubasa. She … I don't really know what happened to her, but when we were travelling to Konoha, she sent a message to me through a little bird and tricked me into thinking that she was in trouble and that she'd be harmed if I didn't come out alone. But it turned out to be her behind the whole thing. But … she's never … she's never been like this before."

"She's only Mirai's half-sister," Kakashi says. "She lured her there and told her that they shared only their mother's blood, and that the man Mirai had thought of as her father was really only Tsubasa's father. Then they fled when we came."

Amaru is frowning, seeming to be deep in thought.

"Are there any descriptions you recognize here?" Tsunade asks.

"Well… It seems as if there's some sort of connection between Mirai and her sister. I don't imagine it's because they're particularly close or anything. Could this possibly be genjutsu?"

"No," Kakashi says. "Both times she had the vision, I was there, and there was definitely nobody there to cast a genjutsu on her."

"A ninjutsu, then? Transporting her mind somewhere else?"

Kakashi shakes his head. "Again, nobody was close enough to do something like that, even if the jutsu existed."

Amaru pauses. "I have a theory, but I just want to make sure first that this really is demonic chakra. Can you check again, Tsunade-sama?"

I sit down on the bed obediently, and Tsunade tugs the back of my shirt up, placing a hand on the scar.

"Was there anything else that you noticed the two times you had the visions?"

I think for a moment. "Well, right before each time, my head started hurting really badly."

"Any … emotional turmoil?"

I blink at her. Now that she mentions it… The first time, it was when I'd first come to Konoha, and I had been torn with the realization that I would never call my Sky village home again. And I was fighting to stay strong in front of the shinobi I'd met. And the second time, it was when I'd been so frustrated and hurt by Kakashi's indifference to everything.

"The chakra definitely isn't natural," Tsunade announces, interrupting my thoughts. "It's not coming from her, but it's quite dormant right now. I wouldn't want to trigger the unknown, but we can't be completely sure unless we do that."

Amaru nods. "It's good enough." She's still waiting for an answer. Tsunade backs up so she's standing beside Amaru, and I'm left sitting on the bed, three pairs of eyes (not including the one Kakashi's covered) trained on me.

"Yes," I say quietly to Amaru.

A dark look passes through the girl's face. It's a strange expression to see on such a young person's face.

"I think I know what it is," she murmurs, and she flips through the dried and cracked pages of the book. "I'd hoped it wasn't this, because it was unlikely…" She stops on a page, and holds the book out to Tsunade, who takes it gingerly. "The ancient demons Li Zhi and Qin Gan." Her lips struggle to pronounce the names properly.

But just at the sound of the two names, my skin prickles and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Something within me recognizes it.

"_Two _demons?" Tsunade says sharply as her eyes lower to the page.

"Yes, but they came from one. Shi Xiang."

"It says the original demon was … a phoenix," Tsunade murmurs, reading off the page. "And its two halves … split into the demons Li Zhi and Qin Gan."

Something in my gut stirs again, like an animal raising its head during hibernation.

"The falcon and the sparrow," Amaru adds, nodding. "I thought this one was a myth, but it's so closely-linked to the Sky Country that it can't be just tossed aside. It says that the originally-peaceful demon Shi Xiang was so conflicted between two types of thinking – thinking with logic and thinking using emotions – that it had to split into two. But then its two halves were so extreme and violent that they began wreaking havoc in the Sky Country, and the ancient Sora-nin sealed it somewhere unknown. And that's all it says. But the connection between you and Tsubasa makes sense this way."

I feel Kakashi glance at me.

"Why did you say it was unlikely?" I ask quietly.

"Because it would have taken an incredible amount of chakra – perhaps even several sacrifices – to seal a demon of this calibre," Amaru replies. "The original demon was, for the most part, ignored because of its peaceful tendencies. However, it's said that the chakra it possessed was incredible, and that it's one of the oldest demons. But when it split, even though that chakra was halved for each demon, its might could have even surpassed that of a Tailed Beast. But it was widely unacknowledged because all of this happened in the Sky Country, and they kept it secret from the world.

"This demon – well, the two of them – and the Reibi are the only demons originating from this area of the world, near the Sky Country. I wouldn't be surprised if the Reibi had attacked the Sky Country in the past before, and it had been sealed away for some time as well. But while I can understand how Shinno reawakened the Reibi, I can't think how Li Zhi and Qin Gan would have been found and sealed in you."

The first thing that comes to my mind is that my father did it. "Keiji," I say out loud, but Kakashi shakes his head quickly.

"It couldn't have been him. I sensed his chakra, and it was completely unmolded. He's never had training."

"Who was the strongest shinobi in the Sky Country when you were younger?" Amaru asks.

"Shinno was, I suppose." It certainly was true. He had been the leader of the revolution for a reason.

"No, other than him. It couldn't have been him, because fusing with the Reibi had been his final trump card."

"Well … I guess the strongest shinobi clan was the Yamaha clan."

"The Yamaha clan? Did you know any of the clan members, or were they close to your family before you were born?"

"I … I knew Kiyosho."

Kakashi's head turns to me quickly. "_Knew?_ Who was he?"

_Was._ "We were lovers."

Kakashi's eye widens slightly, but he wipes the emotion away quickly as if it was never there. "Could he be the man in the visions?"

A horrified feeling steals through me. "No!" I shout, feeling sick. "No, that's not possible." Was it? And as I think about it, I grow calmer. "No," I repeat firmly, shaking my head. "His voice doesn't sound like that. And besides … he … he's not alive anymore."

Silence.

I notice suddenly that Tsunade's face is uncharacteristically solemn. Sad, and even with a trace of pity.

"Was he a Sora-nin?" Amaru asks softly.

I nod. "But it wasn't like that. He never wanted to join, but his brother … his brother was always stupid. Kiyosho only joined so that he could protect his brother. They both died in the end."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Amaru says, casting her eyes down.

_I'm sorry too. _But now isn't the time for tears. I can't be crying now.

I turn to Kakashi. "Why did you look at me like that when I said his name out loud?"

"I heard you saying that name in your sleep."

I wince, surprised. It was probably the truth – it wasn't too hard to believe that I'd dreamed of Kiyosho, even here in Konoha.

"And was his family close with yours? Close enough that they could have had access to you and your sister close to when you were born?"

I think back to childhood memories. "I don't think so," I say slowly. "From my childhood memories at least, I know our parents weren't too fond of them, and they weren't happy when I met Kiyosho. But that's not to say anything happened," I add hastily, "because my father didn't really like anybody."

"We should do a check of your memories," Tsunade says. That's the first thing she's said in quite a while. "We'll get Inoichi to do it," she says to Kakashi, "if he's not busy today."

Kakashi merely nods, expressionless.

To my surprise, Tsunade walks over and places a hand on my shoulder. "You've done well," she tells me. "You've been very brave."

From the looks of it, Amaru is very shocked by the Hokage's behaviour. And if I'm not mistaken, I see a single tear seep past her eyes as she turns away.

::~::

All right! Amaru is here, and part of the explanation is done. So what do you think? It took me a while to think up this stuff about demons. So some explanations are below:

_Shi Xiang_ – means "thought" in Chinese. 

_Li Zhi_ – loosely translates to "logic" in Chinese.

_Qin Gan_ – translates to "emotion" in Chinese. 

_I'll Back Off So You Can Live Better _by G. NA is the song Mirai is humming. I've been listening to it way too much – it's a wonderful song! Please go listen :)

I was very excited writing this chapter, and I have somewhere to go today, so I'm not spell-checking this chapter right now – sorry for any mistakes here. Hope you enjoyed!

As always, please _**review, follow, favourite!**_

-Jennifer *big bear hugs*


	14. The Memories of the Past

I don't think what I've been told really sinks in as we walk away from the hospital. That I'm a container for half a demon, and that my sister holds the other half. That the two halves were opposites and collided.

That I'm not a normal human.

All that I can feel is a strange fluttering in my belly, something that makes me frown and wonder if I'm forgetting or overlooking something.

When we reach ANBU headquarters, a slight shiver passes through me as I see masked shinobi everywhere. Even though I know Kakashi is by my side, and that nobody would hurt me, I feel fear.

There's a reassuring pat on my shoulder. It's hesitant, but comforting at the same time.

He leads me through the hallways quite slowly, content to go at my pace, even with the ANBU members rushing around. I feel like a turtle, trying to swim upstream.

We reach a nondescript office door that Kakashi knocks at, and a man comes out quickly.

"Mr. Yamanaka!" I step back in surprise. By "Inoichi", I didn't expect _him._

"Mirai," he nods at me. "I got the message, Kakashi-san. I have time – should we get started now?"

"If that's okay with you, Mirai," Kakashi says to me. I feel a bit comforted, but a bit flustered at the same time. I feel like a child, being brought here by a parent to do a check-up.

But I simply nod.

Inoichi leads us to yet another room, one with a black door. It seems to be locked, but he doesn't unlock it with a key. Instead, he presses his thumb to the doorknob, which glows faintly with his expelled chakra, and the door swings open on its own.

Seeing me look of amazement, he smiles at me. "It's one of the best methods we have."

The little comfort I had had before disappears now. The room is dark, and there's a chair with handcuffs and chains connected to the armrests. On the other side of the room, there are a few jail cells that look like primitive cages. I can't stifle a gasp when I see fresh blood in one of them.

"It's fake," comes a quiet voice from my right. Kakashi. "It's just to intimidate. They've had that puddle there since I was in ANBU, and it's always been that colour."

It still surprises me how much this man notices, especially when it comes to what I'm thinking. I swallow, and nod meekly at him, even though the fear is still coursing through me like a fast-paced river.

"Sorry, Mirai," Inoichi says ruefully. "It's just easier for me in this room. We won't be using the chains of course, but I'd still like you to sit in that chair. It's been set up to complement my jutsu, and the chair will descend to be in line with a special encryption."

"Of course," I manage to whisper, and I force myself to walk to the chair and sit in it. The cold metal seat is not comforting.

And suddenly the chair begins to sink into a large indent in the ground, until my head barely reaches out from a white, rounded protrusion from the ground. I feel helpless, and the fluttering sensation magnifies into an outbreak of panic.

I want … no, I _need _to escape from here!

"Mirai!" Kakashi shouts suddenly, and I flinch at the loud sound. "Calm down. I can feel your chakra levels going much above the norm."

I grasp at the sound of his voice, reminding myself where I am, why this is happening.

And somehow, it works. I'm able to somewhat clench down on the overpowering feeling of fear in my chest, and suppress it.

I feel a large hand on my head.

"You're doing great," comes Inoichi's encouraging voice from above. I can't move my head even a little bit.

And then I can feel a change in the atmosphere, the feeling of energy swirling, before the dark room before me disappears.

::~::

_The two shinobi are gaining on me, and my bare feet are already bleeding profusely, leaving a clear red trail. _

_Suddenly, I trip and fall onto my knees, glass shards cutting through my skin like a knife through butter. I roll over hastily in time to see the shinobi leering down at me._

_They wear no discerning forehead protectors, and I know they must be mercenaries. I feel all the meagre hope in my heart disappear in a flash – the mercenaries are heartless, even in comparison to the evil village of Konoha. _

_I see my life flash before my eyes before I squeeze them shut, hoping for a quick death. _

_There's a loud grunt before me, and a splatter of some warm liquid…_

_My eyes flash open, knowing it's blood on my face and that the blood isn't mine. In shock I see that the tip of a sword protrudes through the torso of one of my to-be killers, a metal tip that quickly retracts, letting the man's body fall to the ground with a loud thump. _

"_Kiyosho!" I exclaim in astonishment, heart still thrumming in fear. He barely looks up at me with a comforting look in his eyes when – "Watch out!" I scream. _

_The second shinobi has leaped back and holds some sort of weapon in his hands, some sort of barbed shape that's moving sluggishly. With a grin, he throws it at Kiyosho, who is taken by surprise, and the barbed thing latches onto his chest, and I can only watch in horror as it sinks a sharp appendage into his ribs before he pulls it out with difficulty. _

"_Kiyosho!" I shriek, crawling to him. There's a huge hole in his chest, and jagged little barbs protrude from the sides of the wounds. The blood is everywhere, but I don't care, and I summon up chakra to my hands – I can do this, I can heal him! _

_Out of the corner of my eye, I see the shinobi advance. I throw myself between him and Kiyosho. _

"_Please," I beg. "Have mercy!"_

_His only response is a widening of his smile as he picks up a kunai from the ground…_

_A flash of blue stuns me momentarily as it barrels into the shinobi's form. In shock I realize it's the blue uniform of our Sora-nin, and I'm even more astounded to see that it's Isamu, who wears a feral, unthinking grin as he stabs his own kunai into the shinobi's body…_

_My shock wastes another few precious seconds before I turn back to Kiyosho, trying desperately to heal him. A bubble of blood appears at his mouth, and he looks up at me pleadingly. _

"_Get… away," he manages to utter, but I shake my head hard. I look up to see another three shinobi heading this way, and fear – for me – is evident in Kiyosho's eyes. I shake my head again, even though my attempts are futile at best and useless at worst._

_Suddenly a pair of strong arms hoists me away and I scream. It's my father, and he drags me away, ignoring my relentless kicking and screaming as I see Isamu stand before the broken body of his brother…_

::~::

My pulse is racing even now from that memory, and I remember the absolute mindlessness of the battle. They had just come so quickly, out of nowhere…

::~::

_It's midnight, and the moonlight that passes through the window is dim, like it's being muffled by the clouds, the foreboding atmosphere. _

_I turn to the man beside me, thumb stroking along his cheek, then through the soft locks of his hair. I press my lips to his jaw. _

"_Please, don't go," I beg him. "You don't need to do this." Even though I know it's hopeless, I still say the words. _

_He kisses me gently, a feather-light touch on my lips. "If it was you, you wouldn't hesitate either," he murmurs. _

_He's right, but it doesn't mean I'll let him go without a fight. _

_I kick away the blankets tangled around my legs, and hoist myself above him, letting our torsos touch, but only the slightest bit. My teeth graze his earlobe, and I can feel him shiver. _

"_Don't you want…" my tongue darts out to taste the side of his neck, "to stay…" his collarbone, "with me?" and finally his throat. I feel him swallow, right against my lips. _

"_Mirai," he whispers my name, a reverent murmur. _

_But I grab his hands as they begin to snake up my back, and hold them down on each side of his head. He can break free if he really wants to, but he humours me by staying still. I kiss the hollow at the base of his throat again, loving the slight saltiness of his skin. And suddenly it dawns on me that this might just be the last time I'm with him like this. _

"_Please, Kiyosho," I whisper desperately, brokenly. "I love you. I love you so much. Please, I'm begging you … don't go." _

_His eyes widen at my admission, and he doesn't even blink when a teardrop falls from my eyes to his cheek. Then he closes his eyes. "Mirai … I love you too. You know that." _

_But it's too little, too late. He's not giving in, and my tears overflow, but he just lets me cry and cry onto him. _

_It really is the last night. _

::~::

I don't know why this is one of the first memories he pulls up, but I feel somehow violated and extremely uncomfortable knowing that someone else is now witness to this scene.

But before I can consider it further, I am plunged into another memory.

::~::

_We're under a large oak tree, hidden from the sun and the rest of the world. _

_He clenches his hand in the grass, pulling out a fistful of it. _

"_Hey," I say softly, placing my hand over his, and he relaxes immediately. I smile despite myself, amazing at how much my touch can affect him, this man who means the world to me. _

"_Sorry," he murmurs, and he entwines our fingers. "It's just … I can't believe he'd really go do it, after all these years." _

_Of course that's what it's about. Isamu's enlistment. _

"_It's just a phase," I say, even though I know it's not true. "He'll grow out of it," I lie. _

_Kiyosho is silent. He knows I'm only saying these words. _

_His handsome face is grave, a frown on his brow and taut muscles at the corners of his lips. A cool breeze passes us, and his silky dark hair flutters slightly in the wind. I comb my fingers through the short locks before smoothing a thumb over his brow, and then his cheek. I marvel at the perfection of his face – the perfection I'd admired from afar for so many years. The perfection that was so unbelievable that it took me weeks to allow the fact that he liked me back to sink into my mind. _

_And suddenly he tackles me to the ground, kissing me fiercely, just a clash of our lips, teeth, tongues. I moan. His hand explores my neck, my shoulder, my collarbone, thumb hooking under the shoulder strap of my tank top and pushing it down. He kisses the sensitive skin at the crook of my elbow, keeping his eyes on mine as his lips move from there to my shoulder, and back to my neck. He kisses my throat, breaking that gaze for a mere moment before his eyes meet mine again. _

_There's a fire in those eyes, one that dances behind the hooded, deadly gaze of his eyes and makes me tremble in anticipation. _

_His lips meet mine again, and it's not a kiss – it's much more than that. He expels all the desperation, all the frustration, and all his worries into that one kiss, saying all the words that I know he can't begin to express in words. _

_And suddenly it's over; he sighs and turns over onto his back so that we're both gazing up at the bright blue sky. _

_Gripped by a sudden fear, I whisper, "Promise me you won't leave me."_

"_I promise," he says without hesitating. "And you too." _

"_I wouldn't leave you even if the world was ending," I whisper earnestly. _

_And I sigh in contentment as his fingers curl around mine again, and all the troubles of the world disappear from our minds. _

::~::

This time, I can barely fight back the tears. Two of the most bittersweet memories of my entire life, displayed before me … showing me exactly how much I lost, how little I have now…

But blackness swirls around me again, faster this time, as if it's impatient to keep combing through my memories.

::~::

"_Stop staring at him!" I whisper frantically as Tsubasa peeks at him again as he passes by the two of us. _

"_If you like him so much, why don't you just tell him?" Tsubasa whispers back, rubbing the back of her head where I hit her. _

"_I can't!" I exclaim, scandalised. "How could I tell him?" _

"_You just … tell him," she says, rolling her eyes, not understanding my conflict. She'd never understand – even at the age of ten, she's had boys climbing over one another to confess to her. She's never had trouble in this area. _

_I gaze at him longingly again, just as he happens to turn this way. I blush scarlet, but I can't turn away as he looks directly at me and smiles, a bit in confusion. A mixture of embarrassment and excitement erupts in my gut, and I fight the urge to squeal in joy. _

"_Girls, come in!" comes the voice of our mother. "Lunch is ready!" _

_We scramble into the house, kicking off our shoes at the doorstep. As we wash our hands, my head is swimming with thoughts of Kiyosho. _

"_Mum," I say dreamily, "when will I get married?" _

_She shoots me a strange look. "Have you been around that boy again?" she demands, her tone sharp. I guess my guilty look is enough to give her an answer. "Mirai, you're only thirteen. It'll pass, this silly crush. He's no good for you." _

::~::

There's barely time to think before the next memory presses onto me.

::~::

"_Momma," I say, tugging on her sleeve, "who is that?" _

_I point at the laughing boy, who ruffles a younger boy's hair. _

_For some strange reason, Momma's face hardens. "Those are the two boys from the Yamaha clan," she tells me tightly. "Don't play with them. They come from a bad family." _

"_A bad family?" I echo, confused. But Uncle Sora had said they were 'an old and noble clan.' "Why, Momma?"_

"_Don't ask so many questions," she snaps suddenly, and my eyes widen in fear. Why is Momma getting so angry? And when she sees my expression, her eyes soften, and she picks up my little hand in her big one. "There are a lot of things you don't understand yet, but you will once you're older. Just trust Momma for now, okay, love?"_

::~::

_A loud knock at the downstairs door. _

"_Dammit Keiji, let me in!" roars a loud man's voice. _

"_Momma, where's Dadda? Scary man here," I whimper. Momma presses a hand against my cheek with a tight smile. _

"_It's going to be all right," she murmurs to me. "Daddy's with Tsubasa. Just go to sleep, honey. Everything's going to be okay." _

"_Let me in!"_

"_What the hell do you want!" comes my father's voice from downstairs. My baby sister's cries from next door are loud. _

"_Dadda's not with Tsubasa," I comment to Momma. She looks grim, and merely covers my eyes, meaning for me to sleep. But the voices downstairs are loud and they scare me. _

"_You know what I want, Keiji! I want to see how they are!"_

"_That wasn't part of the deal," comes Dadda's growl. "You don't get to see them now." _

_Quiet ensues for a few seconds. _

"_You _will_ hand them over at the time we agreed on," comes a final snarl before I hear the stomp of feet down the stairs. _

::~::

_Black. All black. _

_Scary shadows around me. Strange glowing suddenly at man's hands. _

_I open my mouth and wail. Nobody picks me up and kisses my forehead. I cry louder but even Dadda who is beside me doesn't move. _

_Strange words. _

_Dadda picks me up, but only to turn me onto my stomach. Table under me cold. Very cold. I keep crying. _

_Suddenly, my body hurts! Man's hand touch my back, pain everywhere! _

_I scream and shriek, and hear a bird somewhere. _

_Bird is screaming too. _

_Poor birdie. Poor me. _

::~::

The interrogation room appears before me in a sudden flash, though my surroundings are blurry at first.

"Mirai!" comes a concerned shout from far away. Too far away for me to care. My head droops, and I'm panting shallowly.

Distantly I feel the strange chair contraptions come away from my body and the chair returns to its original position on the ground. I fall out of it.

But before I can fall on the ground, a pair of strong arms catches me.

"What's wrong with her?" demands Kakashi's urgent voice. "How come she's like this?"

"A badly-executed memory suppressor jutsu, along with the fact that some memories were so early that she can't remember them herself. It probably sapped her energy. Mirai? Are you all right?" Inoichi-san's voice sounds a bit weaker than usual.

"M'okay," I mumble, almost incoherently. I squeeze my eyes shut.

I realize my head is leaning against Kakashi's chest, my body draped over his knee. His arms are around me.

"Please," I whisper to Kakashi. "Can you … can you get me out of this place?"

And without another word, I feel myself being lifted by his arms, feel him shift my weight so he can press a hand against the doorknob, and feel him kick the door open. The sounds are deafening to my ears, and I press closer to Kakashi with a pained moan. And then for some reason, his warmth and even the faint woodsy smell of him make me feel better. His originally-jerky movements that made me woozy turn almost immediately to small steps that barely jostle my body.

I feel myself being placed on a cushioned bench – _a firm surface_, I think thankfully – but I can't help the feeling of disappointment that washes over me as the contact between us breaks.

"Kakashi," comes Inoichi's voice. "We need to talk about this."

"Not now," Kakashi says, and if I didn't know him, I'd almost say he snapped at the other man. "She's sick."

"Let her stay there. Come to my office with me."

I think I imagine the sound of Kakashi gritting his teeth.

"Fine," he says finally. "But I'm leaving a clone here with her."

A faint poof.

And then there's blessed silence. I feel someone sit on the bench with me, just beside my head, and a deft hand strokes my hair gently.

I feel myself drifting off to sleep, and just before I do, I swear I feel a slight touch to my cheek. The texture of fabric, but with the warmth of lips.

"_Sleep."_

::~::

Hey everyone! So I got a review this morning asking for me to expand on Mirai and Kiyosho's past, which was exactly what I started last night! So, here's a cookie, "ed"! (::) - chocolate chip cookie ^-^

I've had the first two of those scenes planned out for a little while, and I'm glad I finally got the chance to insert them into the story! This chapter was a tad difficult for me to write, with all the sudden changes and such, especially when I had to write from the perspective from a toddler Mirai, and baby Mirai. I wanted to make it sound like a little kid talking, but little kids can't explain chakra or things … ugh, I'm glad that's over, anyway. 

Much of this chapter was to show the relationship between Mirai and Kiyosho, and also to ascertain what happened in Mirai's past regarding the demon, or at least to shed a bit of light (though not so much that there's no mystery … although I have a feeling that I've made it too obvious). Anyhow, I used a bit of freedom while describing Inoichi's technique, though I did take the physically-seen part from _Kakashi Love Song_, where he interrogates Hanare. However, I wanted the readers to see the scenes too, so I made it so that Mirai can also see what Inoichi sees. Since his technique isn't described too much, I thought it's not too bad of a tweak, right? :) 

Anyhow … I was also asked for a bit more fluff between Mirai and Kakashi. To be honest, ever since that terrible OOC scene near the beginning, I've been a bit apprehensive about fluff involving Kakashi. Back then, I hadn't read many Kakashi fics, and now that I have, I don't have the best idea of how to approach them with an OC. However, I'm just going to continue at my pace, and really, you'll just have to bear with me ;) 

As always, please _**review, follow, and favourite**_! 

-Jennifer *hugs*


	15. The Power of Emotion

"Mirai," a soft voice whispers, and I feel a hand brush my cheek, gentle as a feather.

_Kiyosho? _My heart skips a beat, and my eyes flutter open expectantly.

"Kakashi," I whisper. And at first, disappointment fills me, but it is quickly replaced by a strange feeling, an unfurling sensation akin to anticipation. "Wh-What's going on?"

He stands up, straightening from his crouch, and he waits patiently as I push myself to a sitting position on the bench on which I find myself.

Then I remember. The interrogation room, the memories … the overpowering fatigue. I look around and realize Kakashi had set me down on a wooden bench placed across from Inoichi's office. There are a few ANBU members milling about, but much fewer here than back out in the reception area. There's a slight pain in my head; a budding headache.

"I spoke with Inoichi," he says gently, as if speaking loudly would scare me away. "He admits that he may have gone a bit too far."

"But I don't remember experiencing some of those memories."

"They were so early in your life that you can't consciously remember them. But they're still stored in your mind." There's a calm and collected aura about him, but his tone is gentle. It's _personal_, for once_. _This side of him makes me feel so safe and protected.

"What did he tell you?"

He looks grim. "Enough to know that someone definitely sealed a demon within you, and another in your sister. And that means Amaru was probably right about _which_."

"Can I speak with Inoichi about it?" I say, stifling a groan as the blood rushes from my head as I stand up.

"No," Kakashi says somewhat sharply. I lift my head to him in surprised, tilting my face up at him. I hadn't asked for permission – it was more a request for him to help me to Inoichi's office. "He's busy now."

But there's something wrong with his tone. A note falls flat. I gaze at him, searching for some answer in that one uncovered eye. "Kakashi," I say quietly, "what is it?" I stare straight at him, trying to intimidate an answer out of him, but I should have known that would be impossible. I can't even intimidate puppies. Kakashi's face remains impassive, and I know he's not going to give me an honest answer.

I stop him before he starts to speak. "Please," I say, trying to appear desperate and helpless. It's not difficult to do _that_. "I really need to know what's going on, and I'm so … so confused about it all."

His eye meets mine with a hint of pity. "Mirai," he starts slowly, "I just don't want you to go back there because I can tell you're intimidated by Inoichi-san. I don't want you to be scared, Mirai," he says softly.

And for the first time, I see true, untainted emotion written clear on his face. There's real concern in that eye, that expression that's usually set into a mask of indifference, of impassivity.

"Okay," I whisper. I'd say that to anything he says now. That look in his eye, that look that makes me feel so special and safe … it's worth the world to me.

In my state of befuddlement, I barely notice his sudden furtive glances up and down the corridor before he pulls down the mask and suddenly presses his lips to mine.

My eyes widen, and it takes me a few precious moments to realize what's actually going on before I all but melt against him, back arching slightly to accommodate for the slight difference in our heights.

The kiss is so different from our first. That time, I had been the initiator, and he had merely accepted my strange bout of emotion. This time, he's the one who begins the kiss, though I'm much more than willing to go along with it. His lips are soft and pliant, so unlike the rest of him, and I marvel at his gentleness as he tugs gently on my lower lip.

Then suddenly the contact is broken, and I am left bereft as I watch him tug the mask back up. He winks at me as an ANBU ninja strides down the hallway purposefully, completely oblivious to our little display just moments ago, though I'm still leaning against him quite intimately. I smile up at him, my thumb tracing his masked jaw before I stand on tiptoes and kiss that jaw.

"Let's go out for lunch." I must look questioning, because he adds, "We can talk about it there." I nod. There probably isn't anything I wouldn't do for him at this moment. Fortunately for my well-being, he seems somewhat loath to break the contact between us too, and he slides his arm lightly around my waist. "In case you get tired," he says dryly. A little bit hastily.

I feel myself smile again and I relax into his half-embrace.

There's something about being with him – or perhaps just being in Konoha – that makes me feel as if nothing can touch me here, regardless whether harm might come from within me, or from outside forces. It's a strange feeling, the strangeness only augmented by the fact that it's _Konoha._ And I feel as if my old life was another, different life.

But the past is certainly still with me. Inoichi-san's looking around in my mind definitely proved that. I feel a pang of guilt, as if I'm betraying Kiyosho by being with Kakashi now – no, I _am_ betraying him. But it just feels so right now, to be something that's wrong.

_Besides,_ a small defensive part of me argues,_ he would have wanted you to be happy, don't you think? _

Of course he would have. But if my happiness would only lead to sadness for him … would it be worth it?

_Stop thinking about it. He's _gone_. He's passed on. _

I bite my lip and try to concentrate on the man beside me.

When we reach the restaurant, I realize it's the same one as last night.

"You like this place quite a lot, don't you?"

"I like shabu-shabu," he replies, a little bit defensively. "And this place has private rooms."

I smile a little as the waiter leads us to the same room as before.

"Maybe you should order this time."

"No," I say, pushing the menus to him, "you order again. I have no idea what's good, and what's not around here. I guess I just have to trust you." A funny look passes over what little of his face I can see, but it's gone so quickly that I can't ask what's wrong.

All of a sudden, a strange wave of happiness comes over me. I suddenly feel as if I want to laugh out loud in glee.

I freeze.

It's the same thing that happened before, just before we reached Konoha. A strange feeling that doesn't seem to come from me. And then it's gone, and I'm left confused and with a slight headache.

I look up to see Kakashi's questioning gaze. I tell him what I felt, and how it was the same before arriving at the village.

"It must be the link between the two demons again," he says grimly. "And if the other is happy, it means _they've_ accomplished something."

"But what could there be to accomplish?" I say desperately. "There's nothing that Tsubasa would be able to do!"

"Maybe whoever is appearing in your visions is training her."

_Training? Tsubasa? _But the impossibility of her _training_ … maybe that's why he keeps punishing her. "Maybe," I say, mouth suddenly dry.

The food arrives, but I don't have much of an appetite.

"Would you train _me_ then?" I ask suddenly. He looks up from dumping the meat into the pot. "I mean, from what I've heard, you're an extremely capable shinobi…"

"I'm flattered," he says coolly. "But there's no way I can train you if I don't know what you need to be trained _in_." He closes the lid of the pot.

"Chakra control?" I suggest. "Or gaining control over the demon?"

"No," he says sharply. "Not the demon. You don't want to count on that." He takes a look at my confused expression. "It took Naruto years to perfect the control over the Kyuubi's chakra, and even now it's not perfect. Your demon is supposed to personify _emotion_. It isn't going to be a demon that's easy to control."

"But there can't be anything else that she can do," I argue. "Tsubasa cannot tolerate pain or hard work. Training will be something unthinkable to her. There must be a shortcut."

"It doesn't matter, Mirai," he says firmly. "I can train you in basic chakra control, but I will not help you unlock the demon's chakra."

The water in the pot begins to boil.

I bite my lip. He must know more about this than me, and I have no choice but to respect his opinion on this.

He unceremoniously dumps a ladle of food into my bowl again. "Thanks," I murmur, not feeling enthusiastic enough to attempt force-feeding him again.

_What if they attack Konoha, and I can't do anything to stop them? _

Wasn't it true that the two should be evenly matched? Then that would mean that I – or rather, the demon within me – would be the only one who should face her.

"Eat up." Kakashi pulls down his mask.

And because it's just so much easier to do than argue with him, I do. The entire meal is eaten in perpetual silence, mostly because I don't make an effort to talk.

By the end of it, I've made up my mind that I need to talk to someone else. Maybe Naruto, who will certainly give me an honest answer, or even the Hokage, who I'm sure will consider the welfare of the village much more important than just mine.

"Back at the interrogation room," I say, realizing something with a start, "you said that my chakra levels were going much above the norm. Was it the demon's chakra?"

Kakashi finishes tugging his mask up. "I believe so."

I nod, satisfied. So there was a big possibility that strong emotions triggered both the connection between me and Tsubasa, as well as the demon's chakra. In summary, while I grew weak from emotional instability, the demon would grow stronger and take some control over me.

"But you mentioned before that when I first met you, the demon's chakra wasn't noticeable?"

Kakashi looks as perplexed as his impassive expression can be. He nods slowly. Before he can ask me what I'm going on about, the waiter arrives with the bill.

"I'll pay," I say hastily, digging out the money that Kaori had given me. "You paid for dinner yesterday."

He shrugs, much to my surprise and relief. Most people would have put up a better fight, but I'd rather get this over with quickly. The waiter thanks us, smirking a little at our exchange. It's the same waiter from yesterday, and from what I've seen of him, I don't like him very much.

We leave the restaurant, and the atmosphere between us is markedly different from when we'd entered. There's a bit of tension and many unanswered questions.

"I need to go shopping," I say to him. "I don't want to take up much more of your time…"

"It's fine," he says coolly. "Should I meet you –"

"Kakashi-sensei! Mirai-san!" calls a voice from behind us. I turn around in surprise to see a pink-haired kunoichi.

"Sakura!" I exclaim. "I haven't seen you in a while!"

I expect a sunny smile on her face, but what I see scares me. Her expression is carefully set, somewhat wary.

And in return she seems confused by my expression. "Mirai, I –"

"Sakura," Kakashi cuts in suddenly. His voice is sharp. "Is there something you need?"

I blink in surprise at Kakashi's tone, and when I see Sakura practically gape at him, something clicks in my mind, like tumblers in a lock.

"What are you keeping from me?" I say, and I'm shocked at my even tone.

It had all been a façade. Inoichi had known, and he had told Kakashi something.

Something that Kakashi didn't want _me_ to know.

And so he had pretended that Inoichi was busy. He'd pretended that the reason he didn't want me to see Inoichi was that I was scared, and he'd _kissed _me – oh God, he'd _kissed _me – to confuse me and make me overlook his suspicious actions. He didn't really care. He hadn't _wanted_ to kiss me. It had all been a cover-up.

_What did he not want me to know?_

Kakashi's face has slipped back into a mask of indifference. He's not going to tell me anything, I realize in frustration. And he doesn't even have the decency to look ashamed of himself for tricking me.

I whirl around to face Sakura, who seems to have been regarding Kakashi with a sort of fearful disbelief.

"Sakura," I say, tone steady, "what's going on?"

Her beryl eyes are filled with confusion and fear. "I…" she murmurs, turning back to Kakashi. "Why didn't _you_ tell her?"

Kakashi doesn't answer at first.

"Sensei, _why_!" Sakura's voice rises in pitch.

"She didn't need to know," he replies sharply.

"_What's going on?_" I shout, close to tears now. Fear is clawing at me. "_Sakura!_"

She turns to me then, and suddenly, I can almost tell what she's about to say before she says it.

"The entire village was destroyed. Tokuma and Kiyomi send a message out to us today. There were no survivors in the village."

::~::

A numbing feeling seeps into my skin and goes into my bloodstream, and soon I can't feel anything in my body.

"It was a sudden attack. There was an enormous bird-like demon. It had such immense power that both Tokuma and Kiyomi-chan knew they had no chance against it."

And then both her voice and her face before me fade, like a mirage. All I can see before me is that little boy to whom I had given the peaches from the mountainside. Him, and his friends. They're all gone now. They're but a memory in my mind, my mind that has barely enough space to remember them.

There's no doubt who had attacked them.

_Tsubasa. _

_No,_ a small part of me says feebly, _she wouldn't have done something like that. She loved the village too. She loved them just as you did. _

Vaguely, I hear a shout, but I ignore it, pushing it out of my mind. It has no place in my mind now.

That bout of happiness today. It must have been a response to her master's praise. She always loved praise.

_No! It couldn't have been her. It's only a coincidence_.

It couldn't be, could it now? An enormous bird-like demon. There weren't many of those, especially with affiliations to the Sky Country.

There were only two. The two demons Tsubasa and I housed.

_It's your fault. You weren't there to protect them … if you hadn't left, you would have been able to protect them. _

And suddenly, guilt ... pain grief agony anguishwoeremorse_shametormentdistress –_

Something rises within me. Something powerful.

The scene before me flashes again and I see a look of horror on Sakura's face as the ground before her crumbles like dust –

All I can think is, _Please no, not her too._

::~::

A trilling note. The smell of dirt and nature.

I open my eyes, the feeling of grass under my body. It _is_ grass – bright green and bountiful, and I'm lying on this carpet-like mat, my cheek pressed against it.

I turn my head a little, and I see a trellis of blood-red roses, climbing on a spindly-branched tree. Near it, a small pond at the base of an enormous tree. The water is completely still – unnaturally so, and the pale green-blue water reflects a velvety midnight sky.

Wait, a midnight sky? But everything is so bright here … it seems like it's noon.

I swallow, pushing myself to a sitting position. And then I see it.

An enormous birdcage in front of me, the size of the Hokage's tower, roughly wrought out of gold, and a human-sized seal where the lock should be.

There's no doubt regarding the identity of the creature within.

It's a enormous sparrow, its feathers a melange of browns and reds, one feather sinking into another like watercolour paint, and boiling and rising like flickering flame, the entire form seeming to fan out and then taper with every breath it takes. Its talons are a bright orange, leathery and as thick, ending in sharp points; its beak a duller colour, but with the same sharp end and ferocity. Its eyes are beady obsidian orbs, reflecting my shocked face.

Qin Gan.

_So you are my Jinchuuriki._

I flinch. The voice speaks in my mind like a female choir; there is a mix of high and low tones, all coming together to be one voice.

"Where is this place?" I whisper. I want to tilt my head up and look at the sky properly, but I can't seem to tear my gaze away from the demon.

_Where? _A lilting laugh with a low undertone. _This is the garden I created, after years and years of imprisonment. This is within _your_ mind. _

The sparrow moves, lifting a wing that shimmers and flickers, as if gesturing – suddenly the tree next to the pond shudders and grows five more branches.

"How am I here? In my own mind?"

The bird's head lowers slightly as its wing folds back against its side. _Always the obvious questions. Throughout your years of life, I have tasted each and every one of your emotions, but none so potent as that which I just experienced._ The tone of the voice in my head changes then, and it's suddenly huskier. Hungry. _You fed me the emotions, and for the first time in what seems to be an eternity, I felt _alive_. And you were brought before me. _

I suppress a shiver. "So if you can sense my emotions … then Li Zhi –"

The demon hisses, and it rears back, wings extended. _You know of his existence? You know our relationship? _I nod fearfully. _And … I assume you want me to destroy him. _

My eyes widen. "Destroy … him?" I murmur. An image of Tsubasa flashes through my mind. "I don't know why you'd say that."

The sparrow regards me intently. _Then you are the first. In the past, they have all asked it of me. They have all asked for his end, and I have given them all the same answer. That we are one; though we are opposites, we complement one another. That I shall cease to exist upon his death, and that he shall perish should I expire. I tell this to you so that you shall not ever make the mistake of wishing for his departure from the world. _

"'They'? What do you mean by 'they'? Have there been previous containers for the two of you?"

_Yes. There have been countless Jinchuuriki, but I have met only few as we are meeting now. Few have experienced what you experienced, for it takes this kind of emotion, and devotion, to summon me for the first time. And all of them have asked for me to destroy Li Zhi. _

"How can a Jinchuuriki call upon Li Zhi, then?"

Another hiss. _It requires the banishment of all emotions. The locking away of sorrow and of joy. It is the most dangerous of things to do. _

I can't help but say, "But then pushing forth all the emotions is equally dangerous."

Amusement twinkles in the demon's eyes. _You are a shrewd one. But you have not yet expressed the reason for your presence. What has given you such sorrow that you appear before me now? _

Should I tell her the truth? There is no harm in doing so, as far as I can see. "Li Zhi is sealed within my sister, Tsubasa. Together they destroyed a village – the village in which all our loved ones lived. They were all killed."

_Ah…_ The voice seems almost soft; compassionate. _That is the banishment of emotions. Killing all that ties a soul to the world. It will bring your sister great power, as it has in the past. _

"This has happened before?" I demand sharply.

_Hundreds of generations ago, two brother were placed in much the same position as you now. The younger brother contained me, and the older Li Zhi. The older brother sought power, and that he did find when he killed all those he loved, save for his brother. The younger brother spoke to me, as you are doing now, and asked for my help in ending Li Zhi. I explained the impossibility of that, but he was ready to sacrifice himself to end the abomination that was his brother. _There's a sound like a sigh in my head. _You must understand, the determination and the fierce love he held like a torch before him … it was like a feast I hadn't tasted for a lifetime. It was enough for me to agree, and Li Zhi and I clashed bitterly. But in the end, neither of us was able to prevail over the other, and with both brothers on the brink of death, we were at a stalemate, one that neither of us wanted to challenge. And so the brothers moved far away from each other, and neither lived long after the fated battle. _

I'd taken a step back in stunned silence. "So … we have to fight each other?"

_There is nothing that you_ have _to do. You can live the rest of your life, forgetting all this and ignoring the things your sister will do. She may seek you out, but it will be a half-hearted attempt. You are more than capable of avoiding her. _

A peaceful life. One without fear … but at the same time, one without _anybody_, if I should choose to keep avoiding her.

"I can't do that," I say firmly, my determination giving me strength. "She's my sister, and if I don't owe it to her, I owe it to the village of Konoha. I can't let her destroy this village too."

I can't let her hurt Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto, or even the Hokage. Not Kaori or the rest of her family. Not Amaru from the hospital. Not when all of them have shown me so much kindness despite my origins. I can't let her do that, and I _won't_.

There's a sigh in my head again, and I feel power rising within me suddenly.

_You're just like him. Your determination … that love for those around you … I can't help but embrace the emotion emanating off you. _

And all around us, the garden is changing; beneath my feet flower thread their way through the grass and bloom in a multitude of colours – red pink blue yellow lilac white – and the leaves on the trees grow to alarming, fan-like proportions; the roses creep across the ground and twist their way up the golden bars of the birdcage, buds exploding into bloom like blossoming bloodstains; and the demon sparrow rears back, flapping its wings and causing a strong gale to blow through the meadow.

_Go now. I will be with you; you know how to call upon me. Go back to the world in which you belong, Mirai. _

And then the leaves on the trees begin to fall off; picked up quickly by the wind, they swirl around me like a hurricane, and they're soon joined by the grass and the water, and blood-red rose petals – before long, a swirl of black envelops the garden, and it disappears.

::~::

_Whew! _Nearly 4000 words for this chapter! And I haven't broken my record of updating at least once every day! I think I deserve some cookies. 

Anyway, I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Well, the beginning and the end anyways. Hehe, finally snuck in a kiss – but this one wasn't OOC, in my opinion. He had been conniving. :( Anyway, I know I made the demon very un-scary, unlike the Kyuubi, but I thought, why not? Why does it _have_ to be scary and creepy and intimidating? Bee's demon is awesome. 

So a word on the terminology: I'm not sure if I'm using "Jinchuuriki" right. I looked it up and found that it meant "the power of human sacrifice", and refers mostly to the Bijuu, but doesn't say it _can't_ refer to the containers of other demons. I guess the Naruto world doesn't have many other demons, but hey, the Reibi existed, and so did that old demon, whose name I have now forgotten. So again, _why not. _

Tell me what you think about this chapter! I was so into writing it, and that's why it's uber-long. 

As always, please _**review**_,_** follow**_, and _**favourite!**_

-Jennifer *lots of huggles* 

P.S. nevvy, I hope I've addressed your question here as well! Thanks for bringing that up – I obviously didn't make it clear enough earlier on. The feelings she gets are the same as the visions, in essence. :)


	16. The Revelations

Ultimately, I end up describing the entire thing three times. First, to Kakashi and Sakura, who I found right before me in the ruined street. Second, to Tsunade and Naruto, who was coincidentally in her office for a prank he'd pulled, and lastly, to Inoichi, who Tsunade had dragged to the office (the reason for his presence, in my opinion, was more so that he could tell his colleagues _why_ there was a huge crater in the middle of a busy shopping street, than to actually inform him of what was going on).

"All right then, Hokage-sama," Inoichi says meekly. His personality is completely different around the Hokage – he seems to fear her quite a bit. "I'll just … I'll just get going then?"

Tsunade nods curtly, and he leaves hastily. She isn't doing much to help his nerves, in my opinion.

"So," she says, turning to us – us being me, Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto, "what exactly is it that you want to do?"

"I should go alone," I say automatically. "She's my sister, and nobody else really stands a chance against her. I don't want anyone to get hurt because of –" But my sentence is cut short when Kakashi's hand covers my mouth. I utter a muffled cry of anger as I glare at him, _I haven't forgiven you._

"What she means to say," he says, sighing, "is that I'll train her in the basics of chakra control, and then the two of us will head out to find them."

"Hey!" Naruto's furious protest comes from behind us. "I'm coming too!"

"What! Don't leave me out!" comes Sakura's angry voice.

They can be quite childish sometimes. I push Kakashi's hand away forcefully. "No! This can't happen. She won't hesitate to hurt them. If she can kill off our entire village, including her own father, she's got no humanity left in her." I find it rather impressive that I can speak of this disaster without bursting out into tears – my visit to my subconscious seems to have divested me of these emotions somehow. "I insist on going alone."

Tsunade scrutinizes us all, her hands interlocked at the fingers. "Mirai," she shoots at me, "do you even know how to awaken the demon's chakra in your human form?" My look of confusion must be obvious, and she adds, "The way Tsubasa is able to. They say it was a giant falcon that attacked the village. Can you transform into that form at will?"

I gape at her. I'd never really considered that. "I…" I stammer uncertainly. "Well, I know how to communicate with the demon. I'm sure she'll have an idea."

"I still can't believe you can talk to your demon like that. Civilly, I mean," explains Naruto. "The Kyuubi never talked to _me_ like that."

"Naruto, Mirai's demon is a demon of _thinking_," Sakura scolds. "What did you expect?"

"Kids, enough," Kakashi says softly but sternly. "Enough of that. Tsunade-sama, what I've said is final for my part. The two of them can come if they'd like, but I'm quite sure they have more important things to do."

"And you're still supposed to be recovering, not coaching," Tsunade says sharply. I turn to Kakashi in surprise, momentarily forgetting about my anger towards him.

He scratches his head ruefully. "You know I'm a pretty fast healer, Tsunade-sama…" he manages before falling silent.

She sighs. "I guess I could never stop you from doing stupid things anyhow. What you've proposed it as good as what I could have suggested. Just don't overdo it, Hatake."

"Of course, Tsunade-sama," he says, smiling with that one enigmatic eye.

::~::

As soon as Kakashi had shooed Sakura and Naruto away, I turn to him with a glare.

"Look, I don't need your help with this anymore," I say angrily. "I can handle this on my own. You don't need to pretend to care anymore – you _don't_ care. I get it, Kakashi. Please, just leave me alone."

He has the nerve to look bewildered. After a pause, he says softly, "What?"

A gust of wind blows my long hair before my face, and I blow away the offending strands hastily. "Do you really want me to say it? Why did you keep that piece of information away from me? You know how much it means to me."

His face closes off suddenly, and his voice contains a hint of anger. "You didn't need to know, not with all that's already been going on."

I struggle to contain a scream of fury. The emotions of guilt seemed to have been washed away by Qin Gan, but certainly not my anger towards Kakashi. In fact, it seems to have magnified tenfold. Right now, the anger is so acute that I feel like I could explode. "It had _everything_ to do with me, and I had the right to know! How dare you just … just decide what I'm allowed to know and what I'm not! How dare you play with my feelings for you!"

Then I freeze, realizing what I've just said and admitted to him. In utter humiliation, I turn away, ready to burst into tears.

A hand grabs my wrist. "Mirai…" he starts, but I shake his hand away violently.

"Don't. Forget I said anything." _Forget that I just confessed to you. _

"Mirai," I hear, and suddenly he's right in front of me, very close to me. Too close. Unwillingly, but very much inevitably, I lift my head to look into his eye. Immediately, I regret it, because he's pulled his mask down and the look in his eyes is smoldering. "I wasn't playing with your feelings," he says in a low voice.

His proximity is unnerving. He is so close that the scent of him fills my lungs, invades my senses. I gulp, feeling very much like a rabbit looking into the eyes of a wolf. Then I snap myself out of my reverie. "I'm talking about the kiss," I say in a calm voice that only barely betrays my anger. "You did that only to distract me."

There's something unreadable in his eyes – is he trying to deny it again? – but then suddenly, for the second him today, I'm taken completely by surprise when he kisses me.

It's again different from the last kiss. This time his desperation seeps into the kiss, making him bolder, less hesitant, and his tongue invades my mouth with little warning. And now it's not just the _smell _of him that invades my senses – it's the _taste _of him that intoxicates me too, and I can't help but lean into him. His arms come around me, holding me in place so tightly against him, and I wouldn't have been able to move even if I'd wanted to. And then something within me stirs, welling up at the pit of my stomach, something I haven't felt in so long … _desire_. His lips leave mine and I groan, but only to whisper a growl at my ear, "I wasn't playing with your feelings, Mirai," before they make their way back to my lips again, planting soft kisses on my skin along the way. And suddenly, I'm kissing him back frantically, helplessly, as if he's the breath I've been fighting for after being trapped underwater; as if he's the panacea to this sickness; as if … as if he were Kiyosho.

_No. _

I push him away mindlessly, breaking free of his hold only by because this action was so unplanned, unforeseeable, even to me. And as I stare at him, his kiss-swollen lips that must look so much like mine now, his eye that's wide open in surprise … that feeling of wrongness disappears and all I feel is mortification coming over me.

"I'm sorry," I stammer. "I'm so sorry."

And then I flee, leaving him behind.

::~::

It's not a big surprise when I find myself stopping at the flower shop. The garden … the only place of refuge.

Luckily for me, I don't run into Inoichi. Kaori is tending to the camellias.

"Mirai," she says in delighted surprise, "Inoichi told me not to expect you today."

And then she really sees me, the tear tracks down my cheeks, the dust on my clothes from the roadside accident, and my lips, which are probably still a bit swollen.

"Oh dear, are you all right?" she frets, dropping her gardening gloves and rushing over to me, seeming so mother-like and caring that another bout of tears almost erupts, but I hold it back with all the strength that I possess.

I shake my head. "I'm not, but I just can't talk about it right now," I say, sniffing. "Please, I just want to work in the garden. Is that all right with you?"

Her honey-gold eyes rake over me one more time, but her expression is soft. "Of course, Mirai. Just … tell me if there's anything I can do."

I nod, quite undeceivingly according to her lack of change in concern, but she lets me go, and I all but run through the shop to the back garden. The scent of the roses and the sight of them remind me of my visit with Qin Gan, and it's too real for me to bear now, so I turn to the herbs. They're familiar, a reminder of the old days when everything, though it all seemed grim, was easy to understand and following along with everything was even easier.

I keep my back to the roses as I begin to weed the garden. I know which plants are weeds and which are the actual herbs very well; having done it for so many years, it's almost muscle memory when I smooth my index finger over the leaves of this plant here, feeling for a slight furriness, and pulling it out if there is, because that's a weed. Over there, it's the opposite, and the smooth leaves are the weeds that thrive near _this_ herb.

Even unthinkingly, the tears keep falling, and I'm sure the saltiness isn't good for the herbs, but I can't seem to stop them. My eyes are already feeling dry from the huge loss of moisture, but my body seems to want to keep forcing out more tears. It's a good thing that the sun as begun to set, because I don't think I could last long out here if it was any hotter. And going back inside, leaving this garden would mean leaving this place that feels safe, this place that is full of blessed solitude.

I hear sounds from the shop – a pompous customer, a mother and her child – but it all feels distant. Even when Inoichi returns, kissing his wife on the cheek before marching up the stairs and into their home, I don't react. If I keep this up, the entire garden will be completely free of weeds, something I hadn't managed to do even for my beloved garden at the other village. Though now, it was probably just a pile of rubble…

Tears sting at my eyes again, and I berate myself for going down that lane of thinking, _again_. I redouble my weeding efforts, but I can't help but lift my head when a familiar quiet set of footsteps reaches my ears. Even before I see that shock of silver hair through a half-closed door back into the shop, I know it's him.

"Kakashi-san," Kaori says, a bit surprised, and then I can almost see the gears turning in her head, piecing together the scraps of clues I've left.

"Have you seen Mirai?" he asks after greeting her quietly.

This is the biggest clue, and there's no way that woman doesn't know what's happened now. But she hesitates to give an answer. "Why, are you looking for her?" she asks evasively. She must be testing the waters to see if she should be telling him that I'm so close. Though, in reality, I'm quite certain that Kakashi knows exactly where I am. His perception skills are uncanny, and there's little doubt in my mind that he already knows I'm less than a few seconds away from him.

Kakashi sighs. "I just want to make sure she's all right, that she's safe." His voice is slightly louder than it had been, giving my suspicions even more proof. He knows I don't want to see him, and he's only humouring me now. "If you see her, Kaori-san, please just let her know that I'll be waiting back at the apartment."

And then I block everything out. I don't want his kindness, not now. Not when I'm already feeling so confused and frustrated and angry and helpless. Not when I'm so ashamed of my actions. My hands are already stained and spotted with dirt and the green pulp that comes from the leaves of the weeds, but I just continue picking out the offending plants.

A few hours must have passed, and I'm feeling markedly calmer, so it doesn't make me jump when Kaori pushes open the door timidly. "Are you all right, Mirai?" the older woman asks me. "Kakashi stopped by." She pauses, seeming to gauge my reaction.

I nod. "I heard him. You don't need to relay the message." I try to smile, but all that comes out is a sort of weak, haphazard grimace.

"You should eat something before you go," she says in concern. "You've been out here all afternoon. Your back must be killing you."

Funny, I hadn't really paid it any attention up to when she'd mentioned it. But now, I realize my back _is_ aching in pain, and so is my head. "I'm all right," I lie.

"Nevertheless," she presses on, seeing through my lie at once, "come in and have some soup at least."

And she wheedles me into drinking an entire bowl of chicken noodle soup, something that warms me up from the inside, along with her concerned smile and caring hand that rests on my back and pats my shoulder. By this point, I probably would have cried some more if there were any more tears to cry. But there aren't, and all that rises is an inelegant sort of choked hiccup as I thank her before leaving, insisting that I don't need her to walk me home.

It's dark, yes, but I know the way all right now, and I find my way back to the apartment, dreading facing Kakashi.

But my dread is wasted, because when I open the door, all the lights are off and Kakashi isn't lying on the couch. _He's out_, I realize thankfully, but a shred of guilt develops in my heart. Here I am, in this generous, kind man's home, and I'm sick of his presence in his own home? What kind of person am I? _An ungrateful one,_ I tell myself.

I'm too exhausted to go take a shower, and I tell myself I'll do it the next morning. As soon as my head hits the pillow, blackness envelops me, but it's not the oblivion of sleep.

::~::

In horror, I realize my eyes are not sightless in this vision. I can see, hear, and smell.

An enormous, rich-looking bed with blood-red sheets and black supports is in front of me, and on it lies none other than the sleeping form of my sister, ruby-red sheets strewn over her naked body. It's a spacious room with a high ceiling, from which a crystalline chandelier hangs, and a wallpaper with the predominant colours of red, black, and white is plastered around the room. I start in surprise when I sense movement, and I nearly jump when I see a man, as naked as my sister, sidle into the bed beside her. I can't get a good look at his face, but just from the colour of his raven-black hair, I know it's not Kentaro.

Suddenly, a gasp. The sleeping form of my sister sits up hastily, clutching the sheets to her breasts.

"_It's just me, darling,"_ the man says in a leering voice.

"_No," _Tsubasa says hastily, _"I mean … there's someone else here. There's someone who's watching us." _

I really do jump this time, and I look down, but I can see nothing. No body, no hands, no legs. How can she tell?

"_What?"_ the man demands sharply. _"Explain."_ It's a command.

"_I … I can feel someone here." _Her head twists around frantically. _"It must be _her_. She must be watching us. Mirai." _

I inhale sharply at the sound of my own voice, and Tsubasa seems to hear it. She gives a little shriek, looking exactly at where I am.

"_She's there!"_

The man turns too, but his eyes don't focus on mine. There's something familiar about that face … something that rings a bell in my mind. Aristocratic jawline, high cheekbones…

"_It must be the connection," _he says, seething. Then suddenly his hand whips out and clenches around Tsubasa's throat. I cry out in shock and horror as she splutters and claws at his hand. But he doesn't seem to be able to hear me like she can. _"You tell her this: we will be invading that fucking village, and she can be certain that we'll destroy her, that traitor bitch, along with all her fucking friends! Tell her!" _he yells, shaking Tsubasa like a rag doll. Her face is turning blue, and there's a slight flicker, indicating that my time here is running out.

But I'm frozen, unable to do anything even as darkness envelops me, swallowing me before spitting me back out in my room in Kakashi's apartment, because I've just realized who it is. It's the face of a man who I know has already killed.

He's the one who killed Kiyosho, albeit indirectly; the one who brought him into the war.

Isamu, his brother.

::~::

Hey guys! I was a bit afraid that I'd made it a bit obvious that it was this person who was behind all the crap, but nobody seemed to guess, so I'm going to pretend that my foreshadowing techniques aren't as bad as they really are… Woot! Another chapter down (and 3000 words, no less!), and another step closer to finishing this story! Which by now should be see-able. :D

Speaking of which, I want to announce that I'm starting another fic, the first chapter of which has now been posted. This story is called _The Hermit of Konoha_, and will document Jiraiya's life – and yes, I know this is a huge undertaking, but I was so inspired by _The Girl From Whirlpool_, by SilverShine, which documents Minato's life, that I decided I _had_ to do one for Jiraiya. So please, check it out, and bear with me if the updates for this story are a bit slower because I'll be working a bit on the other. Right now, I'm not updating anything else (like _Tears of Snow_ or _The Wolf of the River_) because I'm focussing on this story and my new Jiraiya chronicles. 

Please, check that out! I'm really excited to be starting it. 

Thanks for reading this chapter, and as always, please _**review, follow, and favourite**_! I love to hear from you guys, and seeing an email about a new follower or a new favourite really motivates me to write ;) 

-JENNIFER *LOTS OF HUGS*


	17. The Intruder

The following morning, I wake with a groan to a massive headache. I force myself to get up and relay the information I've acquired to _someone._

But who? I stop, comb stuck in my hair. Well, the most obvious answer would be Kakashi, but would it really be all right for me to talk to him? Would he excuse my behaviour yesterday? When I realize that of course he would, it doesn't make me feel much better. In fact, it makes me feel even guiltier.

The first thing I notice when I step out of the bedroom is that Kakashi still hasn't returned to the apartment. The second is that there's a pot of camellias on the table that I must have failed to notice last night. A quick look at them assures me that they're from Kaori's flower shop, just from their excellent state; crisp, green leaves and well-hydrated petals. Another pang of guilt; he must have bought these for me, because he doesn't seem like much of a flower person. I sit down at the kitchen table, knowing that I should probably eat some breakfast, but not being able to.

_I wasn't playing with your feelings,_ he'd all but growled in my ear. And it really hadn't sounded like a lie (not that I was in the most clear-headed state … but still), so did that mean he had feelings for me too? Then why had he made so many loops and twists and roundabouts to get to this point!

I shake my head, trying to shake away these thoughts. This isn't important now, not when lives are at stake. I have to talk to him, no matter what, and he'll have to return to the apartment sooner or later. We still have to train, like he'd promised… And all because of one person.

Isamu.

The thought of him brings chills to my skin. So it's been him, this entire time, pulling the strings and using my sister. I knew all along it couldn't have been her own doing, because I had known from the start that she was, at best, an unmotivated person, and at worst, a coward. But the question of _why_ arises now. Not why she would have gone along with his plan – no, that was easily explained by her low tolerance for pain – but why _he_ would have persisted all this time.

And how was he even alive? It was common knowledge amongst our little village that anyone who wasn't with us had been killed by Konoha shinobi. Nobody would have survived that massacre, and I'd seen both Isamu and Kiyosho get severely wounded.

A little spark of hope flares in me. If Isamu was alive, then … could Kiyosho be alive too? But I quash that unwanted spark quickly. No, Isamu's survival had already been a miracle (or rather, a disaster), and to think that both of them could be alive bordered on preposterous. After all, Kiyosho hadn't just been severely wounded – he'd been _fatally_ wounded. I'd seen it with my own eyes.

I suppose it makes sense that he still nurses this deep hatred for Konoha, but why would he have involved my sister so quickly? He must have known about the demon to have unleashed it on our little village. But how? Could it be that he was involved with the sealing so long ago?

But it wasn't possible. He would have been around my age when the demons were sealed in me and Tsubasa respectively. He couldn't have known. Then … his father? That would certainly explain our family's dislike of them … but why would my mother and this man who I've thought to be my father have allowed them to do this? And in that stifling black memory Inoichi had unlocked, I had seen my adopted father there.

With that, yet another question had to be answered – who, really, was my father? When had my adopted father realized that I wasn't his child? Had it been early in my life, or just before he'd abandoned my mother? If he'd known for a long time, maybe that was why he'd just given me away to be a Jinchuuriki. Then, why Tsubasa too? Had he thought she wasn't his either? But the similarities between them were uncanny – back then, everyone had said how similar my mother and I looked, and how similar Tsubasa was to our father, and the only real similarity between my sister and my mother was that they were both left-handed.

My hands tangle in my hair and I pull, hard. There are just too many questions, too many mysteries. I can't handle them, not now.

"Oh," comes a voice from behind me, "you're awake?"

"Kakashi!" I say, startled. I stand up to see him come through the window, looking somewhat disheveled. By disheveled, I mean that his vest is missing, his hair is slightly mussed, and his forehead protector is more lopsided than usual, showing an inch of the vertical scar near his eye, though his mask is on.

"You were home late yesterday," he said in barely more than a mumble – is that the reek of alcohol I smell, coming off him? – and flopping down on the couch, his back to me. It sounds like a half-hearted accusation.

Momentarily forgetting the important information I'm supposed to be relaying to him, I utter a half-formed sentence, "Wh-What? When I got back, you weren't here!"

He pauses for a moment. "Sorry," comes another mumble, followed by a groan as he clasps his hands to his head.

Completely shocked by his strange behaviour, I stride over to him, and the stench of alcohol becomes prominent. "Have you been _drinking_?" I demand. When we've gone out for meals, he's never ordered anything alcoholic, and I'd always suspected it was because he couldn't drink much.

"Never mind that," he says, his one visible eye squeezing shut. I'm not sure if I should see if he's got a fever or something – I don't know how he'd react to me touching him. "Why are you up so early?"

I glance at the clock in the kitchen. "It's not early. It's seven-forty." The past few days, I'd always gotten up earlier than that, and he'd always been awake much before me.

"Is it now?" he muses quietly, and he doesn't move.

"Kakashi," I say in a low voice, sitting down on the couch and grabbing the hand that's thrown over his face. For some reason, the fact that I'm sitting here makes me feel as if I'm somehow invading his space. Oh yeah, because he sleeps here. "Why were you drinking?" I ask very seriously. His eye opens.

"No reason," he says rather hastily, though his eye doesn't seem to be unfocussed.

"Is it because of me?"

He laughs bitterly, and there's something off about the sound. "Don't be stupid."

_Don't be stupid? _I release his wrist quickly as if burned, getting up from the couch. All right, I won't be stupid, then.

"I had another vision last night," I say, surprised at how effectively I can mask emotion in my voice. Almost as well as him. He looks up at me, drunkenness seeming to melt away. "I know who's behind all of this. It's Kiyosho's brother, Isamu."

For all the emotion Kakashi is showing in response to this, it could have been that I just told him that I used to own a pet turtle. No, a normal person would have expressed more interest even in that.

"All right," he deadpans.

I stare at him, frustrated and angry once again. "Is this not important information?"

"No," he says in the same flat tone, "it's a piece of information with little importance. It doesn't give any more insight into why he's doing this, and it doesn't tell us how to counter his forces."

"Why are you acting like this?" I hiss, unable to stop myself. "Why are you acting like you don't care about anything again?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he says coldly. "You obviously only want to be acquaintances." My eyes widen, both surprised and confused by his words. He goes on, "I've made my feelings for you as clear as I'm personally capable, and you pushed me away. What more is there to say?"

_What more? _Nothing's even been said yet!He's smarting because I pushed him away, because I was confused and angry, and confused some more? He hasn't even asked me how I feel, what I meant by it. And now he's saying everything has already been said? Because I don't think he'll listen to me on this topic any further, I go on, "So you're just giving up on everything just because of your feelings? You don't care that Konoha could be in grave danger?"

"Of course not," he says, smiling that cold smile that I hate so, _so_ much, especially when he's wearing the mask. He points to his forehead protector. "Shinobi, remember? I'd never let something like emotions get in the way of work. Of course I'll be continuing to work with you. Would you like me to start training you now?"

_I'd rather go jump in a boiling pot of oil. _

"No," I growl, "I'm going to the shop. Don't wait for me."

But as I turn, there's a lock knock on the door, followed by, "Kakashi-sensei!" I realize it's Naruto.

"Sensei, I know you're there!" calls Sakura's voice.

"Don't let them in," Kakashi says feebly.

Just for that, I stride purposefully to the door and open it, strangely satisfied by the look of shock on the two faces I meet.

"Nee-chan, is –" Sakura begins before spotting Kakashi on the couch. "Kakashi-sensei! What happened to you?" She rushes past me.

"What happened?" I whisper to Naruto.

Naruto's face is scrunched up in concentration. "We saw him get into a fight with some guy, and the guy definitely wasn't a ninja. But we don't know why he'd do that."

_I _know. But I don't tell him. "Well, I was just about to leave, so help yourselves to any of the food in the fridge." And with that I hurry away, leaving Naruto looking even more confused than he had looked at first.

::~::

Kakashi's ability to hide his emotions must be rubbing off on me, because I'm able to trick Kaori for the whole day with a fake smile and an adopted cheery voice. I don't ignore what she says to me – hell, I encouraged conversation the entire day. I barely even feel guilty for tricking her at the end of the day when she smiles genuinely at me before I leave, smiling back at her. The sky is nearly dark, and I'm glad for the lateness of the day, because maybe, just maybe, Kakashi will have already gone to sleep and I can sneak in without talking to him.

But the setback to the lateness is that the streets are all but empty, and I feel a bit fearful as I walk through the streets. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing up.

When I finally reach the apartment, all the lights are off, but no figure lies on the couch. I turn on the lights, and I jump in shock when I see Kakashi leaning against the kitchen table.

That he's not wearing his mask is the first thing I notice.

Before I can notice anything else, or even close the door for that matter, he shocks me yet again by pulling me towards him roughly and kissing me.

It's mad, it's consuming, and it's mindless.

His tongue invades and his teeth nip. He pushes me against the door, effectively closing it, and with one of his hands he locks it with a loud, definite _click_, and suddenly I feel trapped and unable to escape. I've never felt this way because of him before.

_It's Kakashi,_ I tell myself. _He wouldn't hurt me. _

But I start to doubt even that when his fingers rake through my hair roughly, so roughly that it hurts, tilting my head back as he bites the flesh where my shoulder and neck connect. I flinch, but he pays no heed.

And suddenly his hands come up my shirt, exploring the skin of my belly, and soon his hands are cupping and kneading my breasts.

I gasp, pushing him away as hard as I can, and he stumbles backwards.

"What the hell?" I shout at him. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

There's just a sense of wrongness about this that's so eerie, but I don't know what it means. I don't know what I'm doing when I step forward and rip his forehead protector off, but it all becomes clear to me then.

His scarred eye is completely red.

It doesn't have the flecks of black it usually has.

"Who…" I stammer in horror.

But there's only one possible answer to that. Nobody else knows what Kakashi's face is like in this village, nobody that would try and hurt me. I'd only seen Kakashi's face because he had been hurt and I had had to heal him. The only other person who had seen him unmasked would be Tsubasa. But she didn't get a very good look at him. She probably didn't see his eye properly, and at first it _did_ look like the entire iris was red.

My first thought is that it's Kentaro, under Tsubasa's orders again. But it can't be, because he can't perform ninjutsu.

But when the Kakashi look-alike before me grins a feral grin, I know exactly who it is. It's the same grin he wore when he'd leaned over the Konoha ninja who had injured Kiyosho and slit his throat.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see something I probably should have seen as soon as I got in – a pink sticky note stuck on a cupboard, which reads:

_Mirai-neechan, _

_Naruto and I are taking Kakashi-sensei out to train him TO BE A BETTER PERSON. Sorry about all the trouble he's caused you lately. _

_Love, Sakura_

My head turns inevitably back to the grinning man before me.

"Isamu," I whisper. "How did you get here?"

::~::

HEY GUYS. HOHMYGOSH. I have finally figured out everything for this story! The answers to the questions asked in the beginning of this chapter will _all_ be answered by the end of the story! I am so proud of myself for finding the answers to problems my own brain makes up… Yes, this tends to happen a _lot_ when I write.

Again, _please_ go check out my new Jiraiya story! I'm really excited about it and I think it's going to be much better than this story in terms of writing skill. I've actually changed the name to _Chronicles of a Pervy Sage_, and today I uploaded the second chapter! (Another whooping 5000+ words … so about 11,000 words now in total, and only 2 chapters.) 

I am hoping to finish this story up in the next 5-6 days, which by my calculation seems possible. _Very _possible. Also by my calculation, I think I can finish this story in the next 3-ish chapters, which may or may not include an epilogue. 

_However_, that doesn't mean I'll be leaving the site :P I'll be writing other stories, probably some other OC stories, but right now my ambition is to complete what I'm dubbing the Jiraiya Chronicles. :) Please follow that and tell me what you think so far! 

Anyway, as always, please review, follow, and favourite this story! :)

-Jennifer *hugs*


	18. The Truth Unveiled

**A/N (Aug 30th update): Please note a re-upload of chapter 14. The first memory is new and clarifies a small point, as well as pulls together the gaps in the past. **

_Recap:_

_My head turns inevitably back to the grinning man before me. _

"_Isamu," I whisper. "How did you get here?" _

::~::

The henge jutsu comes undone.

He's dressed in regular peasant clothes – navy tunic with chestnut-coloured pants – save for the golden locket at his throat with the insignia of his clan on it: a bird. He has grown taller, much taller than the last time I'd seen him in person, marching off to war, and he looks older, too. Wearier, but with the leering glint in his eye. His face is just as I had seen in the vision, aristocratic features and a dark mop of raven hair, handsome but for the eyes.

His eyes frighten me.

They're the same eyes I'd stared into for years, being the same black-blue hue as Kiyosho's, but Isamu's eyes hold no kindness, no humanity. With a shock, I realize he's come to personify everything that Qin Gan had used to describe Li Zhi. Was the demon putting him under a spell or some form of influence?

"Easy," he drawls, his voice raspy. "I followed you after detecting your chakra – and what wonderful chakra you've been leaking."

He laughs coldly, and I shiver as if the frigid coldness of his voice had somehow seeped into my bones. Or maybe it's disgust, upon remembering how he had just been kissing and molesting me mere seconds ago.

"How did you get into Konoha?" I ask in a voice that almost passes off as calm. I grasp around desperately in my mind for possibilities of escape, but I know he's too fast – my only chance is to stall him until someone comes home.

No … I couldn't do that. Isamu is dangerous. It's evident he's no longer a helpless Sora-nin anymore, and I'd barely hesitate to say that he's a full-fledged killer now. What if Sakura happened to come in and he killed her?

He laughs again. "The village's defenses are easy to breach. The people here are too trusting. Too soft. Years of peace and prosperity have destroyed the village. And soon, it will burn down to its rotten foundations."

"You won't be able to," I say automatically. "Tsubasa's power is equal to mine at most."

I don't like the slight curve that comes to his lips, and I certainly don't like it when he begins to stride purposefully towards me. I flatten myself as best I can against the door, fingers inching towards the lock, but he grabs my hand, twisting it at the wrist until I cry out in pain.

He grabs my other hand too, the one that reaches out to bat him away, and pin them behind me before he leans closer, pressing his lips to my neck and biting me.

"Ah…" he murmurs against my skin as I squirm futilely, "and that's where I come in. I'm here to take you out of the equation, to make sure you aren't able to do _anything_."

Without warning, he shoves me against the door _hard_, effectively pinning me and rendering me useless as he pulls out a scroll. Before I know it, he's bitten his thumb and dragged a streak of blood across the parchment, and there's a sudden tugging sensation at my gut.

I squeeze my eyes shut momentarily in discomfort, and when I open them, we're no longer in Kakashi's apartment. It must have been some form of a Transportation technique.

It's almost completely dark, and a suffocating, musty smell invades my senses. It reminds me of the time Tsubasa lured me … it must be a cave. I can hear the slow-and-steady drip of water, and the silhouettes of stalagmites form ragged shapes in the shadowy darkness.

I notice too late the rope that's being wound around my wrists. Isamu seems to be the only one there still, and he takes the advantage, nuzzling my neck while holding tightly onto the tight, scratchy ropes that bind my wrists.

"You dirty, sick-minded freak!" I gasp out, unable to squirm free.

He pauses for a second and gives a cold chuckle. "If only you knew." I don't like his tone, and I don't think he's talking about even those moments I'd caught him raping Tsubasa.

But my words seem to have an effect on him, as he begins to lead me through the tunnels, going on relentlessly, even when I trip and stumble in the near-darkness. Thankfully, he refrains from touching me like he was before from then on.

Again, I'm led through so many twists and turns in the tunnels that I wouldn't have any idea how to get through even if I had been set free. How do they have so many of these underground labyrinths?

"Where are you taking me?"

He pushes me forward. "To see someone you'll be excited to see."

So Tsubasa is here. Does he want the two of us to fight now? I screw up my face in concentration, trying to call up the sparrow demon.

_Think hatred. Hatred towards Isamu. _

But I can't conjure that one, pure emotion of hatred, nor determination, nor sadness, because all the emotions in me are jumbled and confused, only a bit of each taking up space in my mind. That feeling of pure determination I had felt in the garden is gone, and it's speckled with doubt and fear. Despairingly, I wonder how I'm going to be able to face Tsubasa if I can't even enter my subconscious again. I don't even know _how_ to turn into the sparrow demon like she'd turned into the falcon when attacking our little village, not to mention control it, if that was even possible.

"What is this place?"

He laughs softly. "Ironic, isn't it? In the end we, the Sora-nin, hide in caves… But it's bearable and it's hidden. Nobody would search for us here."

Suddenly I see a dot of light before us, and we begin to head down a long stretch of tunnel. Are we exiting the tunnel? Hope glimmers in me – maybe we'll encounter friendly shinobi…

"Don't even think about it." Isamu's amused voice cuts through my thoughts. "We're at the heart of the labyrinth now – nobody will be able to find you here."

_Nobody will be able to find you. _I'm reminded of the last time I was kidnapped … hadn't Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto all turned up to save me in the end? But now, did I even want that? Maybe it was best if they stayed out of this. Maybe Tsubasa and I could just kill each other off and that would be the end of their troubles. Konoha would be safe.

How strange this thing called fate was!

Lost in my thinking, I just begin to notice that we are passing by doors made of wood – there are tens of them. Do these contain reinforcements? People they've managed to convince to join their cause? How are there so many of them?

Isamu stops abruptly, pausing to unlock a door and pushing me inside a room.

Sudden light comes from flickering sources on the walls. I blink rapidly for my stinging eyes to adjust before I begin to take in my surroundings with increasing confusion as to why Isamu has brought me here.

It's a small room, maybe the size of Kakashi's kitchen, and most of it is occupied by a narrow cot on the side. There's an extremely gaunt man lying on the cot, so thin that he's merely skin and bones – and barely that, really – hooked up to a large machine at his side that beeps. A large mop of long black hair covers most of his face. Next to the cot is a weathered-looking chair.

I can only blink in surprise when Isamu unties the ropes that bind my hands. "Why?" I manage, my mouth suddenly extremely dry. I don't understand. "Why did you bring me here?"

His expression for once is solemn and unreadable. It frightens me even more than when he's raving mad. What's going on?

"Where's Tsubasa?" I demand, my voice rising in pitch. "I thought you were bringing me to her. What have you done with her?"

He scrutinizes me carefully, black eyes inflectionless. _Soulless, _I tell myself.

"You'd be excited to see _her_?" he murmurs in an undertone. Then he shakes his head. "I didn't think you wouldn't be able to recognize him…"

I stare at him, and it takes me a few seconds for his words to sink in. Then slowly, so slowly that I count thirteen rapid beats of my heart, I turn to the man lying on the cot.

And then I really look at him.

"No," I whisper. "_No_ … it can't be."

"But it _is_," Isamu's voice murmurs from behind me.

The world stops when my eyes rest on his face.

His cheekbones jut out unnaturally on his wasted face. His lips are bloodless, and his skin is all but translucent. I can see the slow, weak pulse at his throat, just above the woollen blanket that covers most of his body. I can see the struggle for each rise and fall of his chest under the blanket, where the wires from the machine lead. I can see the uneven and untrimmed fingernails on fingers that I _know_ used to be long and elegant, that protrude from emancipated hands resting atop the blanket at his sides.

A soft voice breaks through the silence, as hesitant and questioning as a lost child, and I realize it comes from me.

"Kiyosho?"

::~::

_It's not possible. _

My body lurches forward and I fall to my knees at his side, hands hesitant as they were when I'd accepted my first pet with them, hovering over his before coming into contact. A butterfly-wing light touch. I don't dare touch anything else – he looks so frail, as if he'd shatter any second.

And suddenly two battling feelings of incredulous happiness and horrified shock at his state rise within me, merging together finally to become a mere cascade of shock. I feel something else rising within me, and I know it's the demon. But like it was something I'd always known how to do, I clamp down on it, and it fizzles out like flame meeting water.

_Get out!_ I scream at the demon. _You're not allowed to be here. _

"How?" My voice is a low rasp.

I hear Isamu's footsteps as he comes toward me, but I can't tear my eyes away from this face that is so similar to Kiyosho's, and yet so different that it just _can't_ _be_ him.

"He suffers from a punctured lung." His voice is soft – sad almost, as if he doesn't know that it was all his fault Kiyosho had even enlisted. But anger doesn't rise as I expect. It doesn't rise at all. Only numbing shock. I hear some beeps, realizing Isamu must be changing something on the machine. Calibrating it to Kiyosho's current needs or something. "The respirator is all that holds him alive. Without it, he'll die within a minute. And even now, I've had a few scares with him almost dying." He chuckles, but it's not amusement. It's bitterness. "He's in a vegetative state, it seems, and I feed him and bathe him and move his joints around to keep him alive, but it's not much of an _alive_ state, you know?"

"Does he ever wake up?" I murmur, almost as if spellbound. His black hair is wispy, barely there … just like the rest of him.

"Only through chakra in his system. I try not to overdo it – only once a month or so."

A sort of fascinated horror keeps me staring at the weak pulse at his throat, so meagre that I swear it skips beats. The myriad of tiny veins on his eyelids…

The sound of the door opening is as loud as a thunderclap.

Startled, I jump, upsetting Kiyosho's hand, and I utter a cry of fear.

But his form is as silent and still as before. He doesn't react at all.

"Why did you bring her here?" comes an urgent, angry voice. I realize vaguely that it's Tsubasa, and I'm really here to bring her down along with myself. But … that could wait until later.

"She has a right to see him," Isamu replies evenly, betraying nothing of his insane nature. He doesn't even say anything else or hurt Tsubasa like he had in my visions. Is this even the same man? And Tsubasa herself, she doesn't greet me, doesn't even seem to acknowledge that I can hear all she's saying. Her attitude towards this man who I've witnessed hurting her is queer, too.

But really, I find that I don't care about any of that. All that matters is this frail, emancipated form before me.

"And you haven't told her yet? She doesn't look like she knows." Her doubtful voice is careful; testing the waters.

"She'll be told later," he says sharply with a cold finality. "Let her calm down for now."

Tsubasa's intelligence must have dulled recently, because she doesn't seem to notice the obvious fact that he wants to end this conversation. "You're just going to let her relax, and then wind her up again? Is this how you're going to -"

"I _said_, she'll be told later," he snaps, and this time Tsubasa finally falls silent. Vaguely, I wonder what it could be that they're hiding, but I realize it has little consequence anyway. If there was anyone else that was alive, brought back from the dead, I wouldn't really care, not with Kiyosho before me like this. Even if my mother … no, but she couldn't be alive. Tsubasa had ensured me of at least that much.

"You said you can wake him up?" I croak. It really surprises me that no tears have come to my eyes. None whatsoever. It must be a side-effect of having cried so much already; not even the greatest shocks could bring me to tears anymore.

There's a slight hesitation, but Isamu answers, "Yes." And with that he comes over, hand reaching out, as if in supplication. But all he does is touch a finger, glowing faintly with chakra, to Kiyosho's throat, so gently that I can't complain, and suddenly I see the pulse beat stronger.

It's almost magical when Kiyosho opens his eyes, and I'm relieved to see that his eyes at least, haven't changed. They're still that beautiful shade of black-blue, albeit the pair I see now is slightly dulled, as if time has worn away the brightness of everything, even his eyes.

He blinks, like it's difficult for him to keep his eyes open as he stares up at the ceiling. Isamu moves backwards slightly, but my eyes are fixed upon Kiyosho. And slowly, almost as if the same magnet that draws my eyes to him is now drawing his eyes to mine, those eyes turn to me with a haunting emptiness.

And I watch in astonishment and confusion as they widen almost with a child-like terror.

His lips part, and I catch a glimpse of a gray-pink tongue before his mouth closes again quite without sound. His frail hand pulls away from mine weakly, and in my state of shock I allow him to.

"Please," a hoarse, grating whisper issues from Kiyosho's mouth. It's nothing like that beautiful tenor it used to be. "Please … no more."

I stare at him, terrified. "I won't do anything," I promise earnestly, and I take his hand again.

He jerks his hand away with surprising force with a low, tortured cry. "Don't … don't touch me!" It's as close to a scream as he can probably get.

"I won't, I won't!" I plead, hands raised in supplication, but he continues to regard me with a tortured horror.

"Why … why have you come back?" he whimpers. "You're not … supposed to…"

I tear my eyes away from him, and turn to Isamu, whose expression can only be read as pity. "What's wrong with him?" I cry. "Does he not recognize me?"

"Oh, he recognizes you, all right," Tsubasa's sharp voice comes from behind me. "That's why he's like this."

_Preposterous._ "Why is he being like this?" I whisper as he begins to shake, his gaze travelling from my face to the rest of my body, disgust and fear coming over his face. He's _shaking_, actually trembling so hard that the cot trembles too.

"Please … don't come near me … Mirai."

"_What did you do to him?_" I shriek, heart racing. The thin, thin man before me flinches so hard at my shout that my anger disappears in a flash, and I have to physically force my hand to stop inching towards his, to hold his in mine.

"That's quite enough now," Isamu says sharply, and he lifts his finger again, touching Kiyosho's forehead now, and within seconds his eyes close and his form relaxes, apparently asleep.

But I'm still frozen in place, unable to comprehend what has just happened.

I don't even flinch in disgust or surprise when Isamu hoists me to my feet and drags me out of the room, because this scene that has just played out before my eyes … it would be cruel to make Kiyosho suffer any more. I can't be near him, or else he's terrified. How…

I'm pulled into another room, a larger one that doesn't have a cot. Instead there is a large iron cage, big enough to easily fit five people, and a table with a couple of chairs. I can't even muster the fear I should be feeling when I see the cage.

Isamu pushes me down, forcing me to sit in a wooden chair in front of the table before he and Tsubasa sit in the chairs across from me.

"Why?"

It's all I can manage.

"There are things you haven't yet discovered about your past," Isamu says in a calm tone. "Things that changed the course of everything. You should have learned them first before you went to Konoha and spoke our secrets to those barbarians. But that is amendable, and I will give you another chance to –"

"_What have you done with Kiyosho?"_ I scream, standing abruptly, and _now_ the tears start streaming down my cheeks. The chair makes a loud clatter as it hits the floor.

"It's not what we've done," Tsubasa snaps, eyes flashing as she stands up too. "It's what in your blood."

I glare at her through blurred vision, not understanding. Tsubasa's eyes are narrowed in disgust and hatred, but Isamu grabs her wrist forcefully as he stands up too, and she falls silent.

"You were never told who your father was, were you?" he asks me, voice soft. I don't answer, but I suppose the baleful glare is enough. "It wasn't Keiji, that's for sure. We've known that for a while. But who … we managed to force it out of Keiji."

_What does it have to do with anything?_ I want to ask, but maybe a part of me already knows what Isamu is about to say, because that part almost rushes to cover his mouth before he says it.

"My father sired three children. Me, Kiyosho … and you."

::~::

Oh my gosh. I am almost in tears, I feel so depressed after writing this chapter. 

I swear, I definitely didn't have this planned from the beginning. It just … sort of happened, and the idea grew and grew in my mind into this huge, overwhelming thing that I just couldn't get rid of … and here it is. 

I don't actually want to say too much about this, because there are still some things to be covered in later chapters (and also because it's late now, and I need to sleep ), so I'm going to leave it at that. But don't think that I usually write these things, because I don't! I don't know what goes on in my brain sometimes, but once an idea is there, it's completely impossible to dislodge. _Completely. _

Another thing I want to address is that I'll take back what I said in the note in the previous chapter. You guys are right – the relationship between Kakashi and Mirai is definitely not done with and finish-able, and I'm really sorry for just overlooking it like that. To be honest, when I started this story, I barely had any direction where it was going, and I just kept plowing through, chapter after chapter. It's what I usually do for my own entertainment, and for myself, it's enough to have a hint of a love interest that doesn't really get explained, because it's all up there *points to head*. But this is completely different, and I'm really sorry I overlooked all of that. The story will _have_ to be longer, but I'd say most of the "adventure" part will be done in the said three chapters-ish (now two), and the romance will definitely develop from there! (Yes, it can still develop, even after all this crap.) 

I swear, again, I _never_ intended this to happen until yesterday when the idea just overwhelmed me. It's like … obsessive. But then again, I'm hoping you see it more as a psychological phenomenon (because this isn't something that really hasn't happened ever before; consider all those Asian dramas) than something 'disgusting' because personally, I think it's actually a taboo that is quite insulting. Now don't get me wrong, because I don't have any siblings, but I'm just saying from my very naïve point of view: love is love, so what can you say about what form it takes? 

However, I would definitely appreciate hearing your responses to this. I'm not going to say this chapter was easy to write (because it wasn't) or the hardest to write (definitely not), but it did make the story so much … _more_ than I expected, whether that's good or bad!

So please, review honestly! – and if you haven't gotten the gist of my previous chapters: _**review, follow and favourite**_ this story please!

-Jennifer *sad, mopey hugs*

P.S. my "shift" button isn't working properly, so please excuse any lower-case letters where they shouldn't be … this is really frustrating. 


	19. The Sparrow Unbound

_Recap:_

"_You were never told who your father was, were you?" he asks me, voice soft. I don't answer, but I suppose the baleful glare is enough. "It wasn't Keiji, that's for sure. We've known that for a while. But who … we managed to force it out of Keiji." _

_What does it have to do with anything? I want to ask, but maybe a part of me already knows what Isamu is about to say, because that part almost rushes to cover his mouth before he says it. _

"_My father sired three children. Me, Kiyosho … and you."_

::~::

Silence falls as heavily as a ten-ton weight on my shoulders.

I'm the one who breaks it with a shaky laugh. A shaky laugh that drags out, louder and longer. And soon I'm laughing so hard that my sides hurt and I gasp for breath in little sobs.

"It's not a lie," Tsubasa snaps.

_It's a joke. They brought me here to joke with me. _

"Seriously," I say, another maniacal laugh bubbling to my lips. "Do you know who my father is?" The laugh escapes, and I have to bend over.

Neither of them are laughing, and I find it strange that they can hold out for so long.

Isamu's expression can only be read as pity. "Sit back down," he says quietly as he and Tsubasa sit, but the command is there. I do so automatically – I _need _someone to tell me what to do right now. I can't think for myself.

_That's not possible. Tsubasa is my half-sister … I can believe that. But to think I have two half-brothers as well? _

I can feel the blood rushing from my face and I feel dizzy and numb. "Why did you kiss me then?" I demand of Isamu. I see Tsubasa flinch, and I go on, unrelenting. "Why did you kiss me and touch me back at the apartment, like you wanted me?"

"Don't lie!" Tsubasa says sharply.

But Isamu doesn't even try to deny it. His face still betrays no emotion. "I wanted to see what it was like for Kiyosho. I wanted to see if there was anything innate, ingrained in the human mind that stops incestuous actions." Both Tsubasa and I flinch, but Isamu just looks at me, his gaze steady and calm. "There isn't. There's nothing that gives any indication of blood relations."

"How do you know he was my father? Who told you that lie?"

"When Tsubasa attacked the village, we found your father first." I flinch again, and Tsubasa looks away. "We forced the truth out of him before Tsubasa killed him."

There's a clenching sensation in my chest, and suddenly I feel as if I can't breathe. "Why?" I gasp out. "Why did you even ask?"

"I've always wanted to know," Isamu replies simply. There's no remorse in his voice when he talks about the murders he's forced Tsubasa to commit.

_No! It's not possible. Stop thinking it. _

But I can't stop my thoughts from going in this direction. If Kiyosho was – no, _is_, I correct myself – my half-brother – a shudder goes through my body – what did that make us? What did that make our love? Something … evil? An abomination?

_I didn't know_, I plead to myself. _I never knew. Is it so wrong if I didn't know? _

"Then your father -" I can't bring myself to say 'our father' "- was the one who sealed the demons in us?"

Isamu inclines his head in a nod. "He couldn't do it to Kiyosho because my brother had always been weak as a child. You however, were healthy and fit to take on the demon."

"Why didn't he seal the other in you then?"

A small cold smile tugs at Isamu's lips. "By then, he'd given up on the notion, the old fool. He'd given up on believing that this would destroy Konoha, and he didn't want to seal the demon in his own son. But if he didn't seal it in anyone, it would break free of the bonds soon and wreak havoc. So he sealed it in Tsubasa."

His hand moves languidly to her stomach, and my eyes widen. "Is she…?"

"No," he says with a cold laugh. "While your seal is on your back, my father discovered a better, more advanced seal, applied on the stomach instead of the back."

Like Naruto's.

A suspicion suddenly strikes me – why are they answering all my questions? Why are they even being civil to me now? What is their purpose here?

Isamu seems to be particularly adept at reading facial expressions. "We hope to have you on our side during the attack. Li Zhi alone would be enough to wipe out an entire village of shinobi, but with both the demons of thought, we would have no problem for sure. And in case one of you tires," his eyes flicker to Tsubasa, "the other would have enough energy to carry on."

Even before he's finished, I'm shaking my head. "No," I whisper. "I'm not going to murder innocent people. I'm not going to –"

" – do what they did to us?" Isamu suggested, anger underlying his words. "We have to put an end to those heartless people."

I shake my head again. "Hatred spawns hatred. You're not putting an end to anything."

"I told you she wouldn't," Tsubasa says suddenly. "I told you. She's too soft-hearted. She believes the first thing she's told."

My eyes widen. That's not … true, is it?

But it wasn't just what I was told that formed this mindset within me. It was the way the villagers of Konoha treated me. Even after they found out that I was a Sky refugee, they bore no hatred towards me; rather, they took me in as one of their own and showed me kindness.

Isamu regards me intently. He sighs, saying, "You were right. I merely thought we could do this the easy way." He gets up and walks slowly towards me.

My heart thrums again. What are they planning on doing?

I stand too, as he nears me. "What are you going to do?" I demand, voice shaking. I back up, keeping out of his reach as he advances. His eyes narrow as I try to dodge him, but just then I bump into the wall. I have nowhere to go.

I flinch as he reaches for a lock of my hair.

"You will be ours," he murmurs softly, tucking the lock behind my ear. "You will obey."

"And if I don't, you'll kill me?" I suggest sarcastically, except the bravado doesn't come through just right, and my voice breaks. But I mean it, because if he kills me …

He laughs. "You think I don't know of the tie?" he says, and my heart drops. "I'm not about to throw away both my pieces."

"You can't order me to do anything," I whisper, tugging my hair out of his grasp. His eyes harden and he suddenly grabs a whole clump of my hair, dragging me back to the table with one hand fisted in my hair.

I cry out in pain, and I know he's pulled out some hair by the roots.

He throws me on my back onto the table, securing my wrists with his hands by my sides. I try to kick at him, but he forces my legs apart and stands between them in a position so inappropriate that I redouble my efforts to fight him. I manage to kick him with the heel of my foot, but I could have been kicking a wall for all the response I get from him.

His eyes are wild and furious, unlike the cool and collected eyes that had stared at me unfeelingly as I knelt by Kiyosho's cot. It's the look I saw in the vision before he began to throttle Tsubasa.

Fear rises in me like bile.

"If you don't think I can control you, think again," he snarls. "Remember that it's not only your life I hold in my hands."

"You wouldn't kill Tsubasa."

He laughs, the sound echoing throughout the cave. "No, but there's someone else I can kill. Kiyosho."

My eyes widen as I realize what I've overlooked.

_No_. I can't let him be torn away from me, not when I've just gotten him back!

But … at the price of an entire village? Hundreds, thousands of lives … just for one? I can't …

I swallow. Hard.

But who is it I've gotten back? It's a thin, gaunt man who I've recently discovered is my half-brother. My former lover, and the only man with whom I've been in love. He's frightened of me, looks at me in disgust. No, he looks at _us_ in disgust.

And what is he now? He's a man bordering on the edge of life and death. A single push of a button and he would be dead. By the looks of him, he could be considered dead already.

_But this is Kiyosho, _a part of me begs. _This is the man who sacrificed his life for _you_! Don't you owe him something for that?_

I'm torn. Completely and utterly torn.

"You'd kill your own brother?" I whisper, desperately stalling for time.

"It would be on _your_ hands," he hisses. "He's in this state because of _you_. I've only prolonged his life, given him a year that he wouldn't have had otherwise."

_That he wouldn't have had otherwise. _

It's fighting against fate, isn't it? I should have no problem telling him _no_ … but this isn't just anyone. This is Kiyosho.

"I'll … I'll do whatever you want," I breathe, and something breaks inside.

Hope. There's no more hope within me.

The hands pinning my wrists down loosen and Isamu backs away with a satisfied smirk on his face. I can't even muster up hatred at his expression.

"Good," he murmurs, back to a cool and collected demeanor. "Now, we'll go back to the cot and make sure Kiyosho is alright, how does that sound?"

I don't understand his motive here, because it just doesn't make sense, but I find that I don't care. It's as good as an order, and it's all I can do to follow him and not fall over in exhaustion, self-pity, and self-disgust.

Tsubasa walks behind me with a suspicious glare, but I certainly have no intentions of escaping. I have no motivation to do so.

Before long, we're back in the room and my heart breaks all over again, seeing that crumpled, thin form on the cot. A sob makes its way up my throat when I see that his hand is still clenched the way it did when he tried to move away from me.

What have I done to deserve this? What have I done that is so unforgivably evil that I have to find out that the one man I loved is my half-brother? Perhaps it would have been bearable if he were dead, or if he could look at me with the same feeling of regret and sadness that I feel, but _not_ the disgust and fear.

He can't even bear for me to touch him.

"Now," Isamu's voice breaks through my thoughts. "I want you to kill the Konoha scum who have followed you here."

::~::

I whirl around just in time to see the wall being completely destroyed. I desperately try to shield Kiyosho's body from the fragments of rock that begin to rain down on us, but it's unnecessary as Isamu executes a jutsu creating an enormous gale that knock the pieces in the other direction.

Through the dust and rubble come Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto.

"Mirai-neechan! Are you alright?" Naruto yells, concern written all over his face.

I don't answer. I _can't_ answer. Not when I'm being forced to kill them.

"Do it," Isamu hisses. "Call forth the demon."

"Neechan!"

My eyes flit over all of them. Kakashi's special eye is unveiled and his stance is ready for battle. Naruto is staring at me in concern, taking in my look of terror. Sakura's beryl eyes are alight with determination, and from the dust on her hand, I know it was she who destroyed the wall.

Determination. _Determination. _

I close my eyes, willing that feeling to come again, that feeling of rising power and total surrender to my emotions, but it doesn't come. The determination I'm searching for is overpowered by fear and love and hatred and disgust. There's no one emotion that prevails, that I can grasp onto…

"I can't!" I cry out, my eyes snapping open. "I can't do this!"

I can't hurt them, but neither can I allow Isamu to kill Kiyosho, not when he's lying there so helplessly…

"You _can't_?" Isamu roars. "We'll see what you _can't do_ now!"

And before I can stop him, his hand reaches out and rips the wire that connects the respirator to Kiyosho, the wire that connects Kiyosho to life.

Everything stops but the shallow rising and falling of the thin, thin chest beneath the blanket.

And then that stops too.

::~::

_Despair. _

I can't really describe what happens next, because everything disappears in a whirl of colours and noises, all blending into one another. There's a roar in my ears and a clenching sensation in my chest, and the next thing I know I'm in the air and the night sky is all around me.

It's as though I'm looking through someone else's eyes. It's as though someone else is staring down at a giant chasm in the ground, observing the ruined landscape.

There's a gaping hole in a desert and I see tiny tunnels as though they were made by ants, and they come closer and closer as I descend, some giant appendages around me. I realize they're wings, and the feathers there are red and brown tongues of fire.

Then everything comes back, all the sounds, all the sights, and all the memories.

_Kiyosho. _

I scream, and it comes out as the deafening screech of a bird.

And as my despair grows, so do the flames around me, and soon it's as though I'm cloaked in some heavenly fire. No … that's not true – it's a hellish fire.

"Tsubasa!" I hear Isamu yell, and I turn to the tiny figure. But it's too late, and suddenly something erupts from the form of my half-sister, like a warped _thing_ that's taking over.

It's as big as I am, and it's unmistakably the form of a falcon.

I screech again, only to have the falcon screech in return. Its feathers, like mine, flicker with energy, but where mine are red and brown, its feathers are brown and black.

It rams into me, and the feeling of coldness hits wherever it touches me.

I screech again, closing my beak over its neck – another freezing-cold sensation – and it flings itself away. I can see where I've touched it, because those spots sizzle bright red before returning to the original brown and black colours.

I flap my wings furiously, struggling to gain purchase in the air until I can look down at the shape of the falcon beneath me.

_Tsubasa … _

Her eyes are cold black shards, indifferent and completely void of emotion, and I want to beat love, hatred, fear – _anything_ into her... I can't stand seeing her like this.

Suddenly her name is called, and both our heads whip towards the source of the sound. It's Isamu, and the Konoha shinobi have surrounded him.

In shock, I realize Naruto is _glowing_; a bright orange chakra surrounds him, much like the feathers that sheathe my form.

Tsubasa darts towards her master, and Isamu leaps away while the Konoha shinobi are nearly crushed by Tsubasa. They manage to escape in the nick of time, and Naruto darts forward with inhuman speed, even for a ninja –

"Naruto, no!"

It's Kakashi's voice; he's clutching his arm and there's blood seeping –

Naruto has hurled himself on top of Tsubasa's falcon head, and she rears back as his chakra leaves scorched red marks all over.

_There's my opening!_

I dart forward as quickly as I can, ramming into her at this critical moment just like she had rammed into me, but she flaps her wings furiously, creating unbelievable amounts of wind, and she takes off, Naruto still on her head.

Suddenly there's the sound of a collision and my head whips back to see Sakura tumbling backwards as hundreds of little holes form in the ground around her; in horror, I realize Isamu is using a technique that creates bullets out of the air, and they're pelting her.

My beak opens, almost of its own accord, and a bright _thing_ shoots towards Isamu like a shooting star, a trail of red in its wake –

He barely manages to dodge it, but it gives Sakura enough time to get up, and just then Kakashi attacks Isamu from the side. Watching their movements, I know that Kakashi has made the right choice, and Isamu is taking many hits. He's obviously adept at ninjutsu, but much less so in taijutsu.

Nevertheless, he manages to break free of Kakashi's hold, but they're still so close together that I can't attack for fear of hurting Kakashi and Sakura….

Naruto is still atop Tsubasa as she writhes and twists in the air, trying to buck him off and I rise to their level, opening my beak again and unleashing the same bright trail of light. Tsubasa tries to dodge it but it hits her outstretched wing, and she falls to the ground, a gaping hole in that black flickering wing. She begins to shrink so slowly that I almost miss it at first, but then the wings are retracting into her torso and I can see hints of her face as her mouth/beak opens –

"Mirai, get out of the way!"

I start at the sound of Kakashi's voice, but it's too late, and a black, glowing spear hits me right in the heart…

The next thing I know, I'm falling too, and the power I'd felt while in the form of the demon lessens and lessens until I feel like I can barely keep my eyes open.

The ground hits me hard and a low groan of pain escapes my throat. But I can't pass out and I force myself to my feet because Tsubasa is mere meters away from me, and she's completely reverted to her human form, her eyes fearful as she gropes around the rubble until she finds a kunai, glinting ominously.

I gasp as she jumps at me, knocking me over again, the kunai pressed to my throat so hard that I can feel warm, sticky blood dribbling down.

"Going to kill me?" I croak, but suddenly my fear disappears as I look up at her, because her eyes betray everything. She's frightened beyond thought, and her eyes are wild, darting around. "You can't do it, can you?"

She snarls, and the sharp edge cuts deeper.

She's not trying to kill me. She knows the two of us are bound. I can see it in her eyes, she's thinking about where to strike so that the wound isn't fatal…

_Determination_, something whispers to me, and unlike before it's able to rise.

Quickly and strongly, my energy returns in a fresh flood, and before Tsubasa's eyes can even widen, I push her off and swat the kunai away. I pin her hands down at the wrists with mine and my knees hold her legs still.

"You're not able to master the demon, are you?" I say with a dawning realization. How could I have overlooked it before? "Your fear … it drives off the demon's power. As long as you're winning, you're fine, but as soon as you're hit, uncertainty claws at you, doesn't it?"

She snarls and tries to kick at me, but the snarl turns into a whimper when I dig my knee into her stomach. She's never been able to stand pain, and true to my evaluation of her, she lets go completely and doesn't struggle. Her eyes are fearful as I slowly move my knee away.

I grab her hands and get onto my feet, hauling her upright too. I press her against a wall that's half-destroyed, and I tear a strip of linen from the hem of my shirt to bind her wrists together.

A resounding crash sounds from behind us and I turn, keeping a firm grip on Tsubasa.

There are others now, other Sora-nin judging by the few faces I vaguely remember from my childhood memories, and Naruto and Sakura are occupied with those. Naruto's form is no longer glowing and the two of them seem to be having trouble fending off the twenty-or-so Sora-nin around them.

Kakashi is still fighting with Isamu, and there's something different about his eye –

A sharp tearing noise.

I turn back, but it's too late and Tsubasa's unbound hands are reaching for my neck, throttling me, her face wild with fury. I see dark spots as I choke and claw feebly at her hands, but it's no use.

The spots enlarge, and soon her face before my eyes dims…

But then the pressure at my throat is gone, and she's gasping as if both of us had been nearly choked to death.

My eyes widen and I realize that's _exactly_ what's just happened.

The kunai that I'd carelessly tossed away before is an arm's reach away and I grab it and press her to the ground.

Her chestnut eyes widen in fear.

"You wouldn't!" she chokes out. "If I die, you die too!"

She had said it because she had thought it was something I'd never risk. My life.

But what is this life that I hold so dear?

_For me to die…_

For me to die, it would be an escape to all of this. I would be able to escape from all this pain and hatred, anger and tears. I wouldn't have to think about what would be right, and what would be wrong. There would just be … nothing.

An end to all of it.

Do I really care for my life?

No. The answer to that is obvious now. Now that I know everything I'd believed, everything I'd thought I _knew_ for my entire life was all a lie. My father was someone I'd only seen a few times my entire life, and he is dead. The couple I'd thought were my parents were both dead, leaving only bitter memories, full of distrust and resentment. My own sister, who I'd trusted more than anyone else, who I'd cared for more than anyone, killed innocents and would kill more if I didn't stop her. The man I love, who I had thought was dead, turns out to be my half-brother and he was disgusted by the mere sight of me and the thought of the memories we shared. And now he's really dead.

No, I don't care about this life.

It is nothing to me.

"I want to die," I whisper to Tsubasa as I raise the kunai high, aiming for her heart.

Our hearts.

::~::

Chapter Nineteen, wow. I never thought I'd get here! But here it is, and as promised sometime earlier, this chapter's name is _The Sparrow Unbound_. It has a nice ring to it, huh? Unlike some of the other chapter titles … I always wanted to say how much I love the title of the story: _The Remnants of the Sky_. It was some cheesy title I came up with and it sort of evolved into this story, I suppose. Or the idea of the story, which was completely separate, merged with it into the story with that name… Make any sense? No? Never mind then. 

Yes, I understand I'm avoiding talking about the content of the chapter. I don't want to say too much, except that even though I know all of you are sure she's not going to die, I tell you now that I'm not afraid to kill off my characters, even the main ones. I shall show no fear! *thumbs up* 

I got a couple of reviews for the previous chapter regarding the incestuous turn of events, as I like to call it, and I just wanted to address that topic (again). I really appreciate how you guys are quite understanding and even encouraging, and the reviews here are (almost) always really heart-warming and awesome. I don't mind criticism (and I'm being completely honest about that), but positive stuff is great too :) So thank you. And back to the topic of Mirai & Kiyosho. Honestly, it disturbed me at first when the idea occurred to me, but now that I've had some time to think about it, I actually think it's not _extremely_ bad. I don't mean the idea, but just the thought. To clarify, neither of them knew this, and I tried to show that Kiyosho was completely oblivious to this as well by depicting him deeply disturbed and terrified of Mirai's touch. I probably got the whole idea from _The Mortal Instruments_, except they _are_ related, unlike Jace and Clary. (Isamu is pretty similar to Sebastian/Jonathan though.) Anyhow, I don't believe that there's anything "ingrained in the human mind that stops incestuous actions", as Isamu says in this chapter, hence my change of mind about this topic. Plus, if there are any Neji/Hina fans out there … gosh, it's pretty much the same, isn't it? Seeing as their fathers were twins, the DNA is pretty much the same, and they're as good as half-sister and half-brother. :P I probably sound really hypocritical about this, because I totally do not ship Neji/Hina, but I'm just saying that Mirai and Kiyosho didn't know, and there's nothing that really made them stop. They fell in love – what's so wrong about that? 

Anyhow, I shall stop ranting. Stories of mine always come to life on their own, and I can't stop them from doing that. (That's why I'm writing my Jiraiya chronicles, which _do_ have a pre-set summary! Please check it out! ^^ *shameless advertising*) In this case, it just went down the incestuous road :P 

Please _**review, follow, and favourite**_ as usual! :)

-Jennifer *hugs*

P.S. Sorry for the long A/N. I couldn't help myself! :D

P.P.S. I'm putting this chapter up without any editing whatsoever, just because I'm excited to put it out there, and also because I haven't updated in approximately 36 hours (which is quite a long period of time for my stories, right?)! Oh, the crazy things I do…


	20. The End

**A/N: THE CHAPTER NAME DOES NOT MEAN IT'S REALLY "THE END". It's just … _an_ end. THERE WILL BE MORE CHAPTERS! Just wanted to point that out!**

_Recap: _

_No, I don't care about this life. _

_It is nothing to me. _

"_I want to die," I whisper to Tsubasa as I raise the kunai high, aiming for her heart. _

_Our hearts. _

::~::

But a flash of terror in Tsubasa's eyes makes my hand waver, and I'm suddenly reminded of the little girl who I'd loved and taken care of.

_Clang. _

The kunai stabs into the ground.

But it's not of my doing. The way my hand shook, the kunai would have stabbed through Tsubasa's shoulder. A stunned glance over my shoulder is enough to show me that Kakashi was the one who stopped me from killing her, and myself.

"Why?" is all I can utter as I stare into his eyes.

Suddenly, his red eye begins to spin, and I realize too late that he's putting me under a genjutsu …

I can't move anymore; my limbs won't respond to my commands, and I can only watch as another Kakashi moves forward to deflect blows from Isamu as the first moves to put Tsubasa under what I presume to be the same genjutsu.

The clone is hit, and it disappears in a puff of smoke.

"Naruto!" Kakashi yells from behind me, and I see two Narutos hurtling towards Isamu, a sphere of blue light in hand –

Isamu dodges it and he's about to close a hand over Naruto's head when suddenly, tiny bullets of air hit him, the same jutsu he was using before. Spot of blood seep onto his clothing as he releases Naruto but he himself jumps out of the way.

"Kakashi of the Sharingan, is it?" he says to Kakashi, who has stepped forward in front of me. I'm relieved to see that Isamu is breathing heavily, while Kakashi remains calm and collected. But there's a wound at his shoulder –

Suddenly Sakura comes out from behind Isamu and deals a deadly blow to his head, snapping his entire form to the side – but he recovers quickly and throws her to the ground while both of them are still airborne.

"Sakura!" Naruto shouts and he barrels forward again, but his movements are slowed and sluggish; he must be suffering from an injury –

Ten copies of Naruto spring forth but Isamu bats all of them away, gusts of wind as sharp as blades cutting them back, but the real Naruto comes from behind with the same sphere of light in his palm, and he rams it into Isamu's gut.

It happens in slow-motion.

Isamu seems to have been defeated at first, and his face is the image of shock. But then his form starts to _drip_, melting like ice cubes left out in the sun too long, and it flickers … just like the way the feathers of the demons flicker.

_Kakashi!_ I try to scream, but nothing in my body obeys! Nothing will move, not even the slightest, smallest muscle, and I'm straining in frustration at the genjustsu, but it doesn't give.

It all becomes clear to me.

He's using Tsubasa's chakra. He can do that, and that's why his chakra seems to be never-ending and his demeanour so cold and unfeeling. Somehow, there's a link between the two of them.

I can only watch in horrified silence as Naruto collides heavily with the ground, a rivulet of blood trickling from his temple. He tries to push himself upright, but he slumps onto the ground wearily. Nearby, Sakura isn't moving at all.

Kakashi faces a re-formed Isamu, who is standing atop a large boulder, and both men emanate a dangerous aura. As for Isamu, what he emanates is visible – a flickering blackness, the same chakra that had sheathed Tsubasa's demon form. It's so obvious now that I see it, but Kakashi doesn't, because he never saw Tsubasa in her demon form close enough…

"You're tired, aren't you?" Isamu says with a chuckle, and it's then that I see he's not even breathing heavily again. He seems to recover so quickly that he's indestructible.

"Not too tired," Kakashi says lightly, but his voice is so familiar to me that I can detect strain under his flippant tone. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Naruto stirring feebly. But beyond Isamu, I notice that all the Sora-nin have been killed or knocked out. I desperately hope it's the latter. "I can still manage a couple of moves."

The atmosphere is strained so tightly it's like a thin string. Neither men are moving – they're waiting for the first strike.

Suddenly Kakashi's hands are forming seals, and Isamu leaps out of the way just in time, because the next moment tiny air bullets hit exactly where he had been standing. The rock crumbles into tiny pieces at the impact, but Isamu is unharmed, standing lightly on another boulder.

"Using my techniques against me … how dreary," he jeers. There's something strange about him, and he looks weary … is he losing power?

Kakashi uses the same technique again, shattering a second boulder, but again, Isamu leaps away unharmed. I'm confused now as to why Kakashi keeps using this technique that is obviously failing to do anything.

He does it one more time, much to my disbelief, but precisely then, ten Narutos leap at Isamu, engulfing him midair before he can maneuver himself out of the way.

And suddenly Kakashi is making hand seals, and when I look back at Isamu, his head is strangely deformed …

Suddenly I realize there's a _hole_ in the air, and he's being sucked in like a whirlpool –

But then Kakashi falls to his knees, panting heavily, and the warped area disappears, spitting Isamu back out, still intact. Kakashi looks so helpless now, and Naruto is fending off Isamu at present, though his attacks are easily being blocked…

Kakashi could use my chakra, I realize with a start. If he would just turn around and undo the genjutsu, I'd find a way to give him _my_ chakra, and he wouldn't be so helpless! I strain against the invisible bonds again with renewed vigour, trying to move something, _anything_ so I can communicate with him …

Naruto is knocked to the ground again and again, getting up a bit more weakly each time, and this time his head hits the ground first with a terrifyingly loud _crack_. He doesn't get up.

_No!_ I want to scream, but I still can't move, even as Isamu begins to advance towards Kakashi with a murderous look on his face.

I can't let Kakashi die too, not like this! Not for me. Desperation and frustration rear up within me, and that determined feeling rises again like an overwhelming wave. But I let it overwhelm me, let my instincts take over instead of thinking, let my _emotions_ control my body –

The genjutsu is gone suddenly and I surge forward to clap a hand to Kakashi's shoulder, my eyes squeezed shut, _willing_ the energy within me to transfer to him, trying to push the viscous chakra _into_ him –

But nothing happens.

Isamu's mocking laugh rings and echoes off the cold, hard walls.

"You're trying to copy me too?" he laughs again, and my eyes open, knowing it's useless. It's not going to work, I realize in dread. Fatigue sinks back into my bones like water soaking into wood. "You can't, can you? You can't force those hot, passionate feelings into anyone else here. Shinobi don't _feel_. They kill, without remorse and without thought."

He's describing himself, I tell myself desperately. Not Kakashi. Not Naruto or Sakura. I know that they _care_; they love and they hate.

Then I put my hand to Kakashi's cheek without knowing why I'm doing it and he flinches, but suddenly there's _something_. It's like heat is travelling from me to him, and from him back to me. It's a strange feeling but I keep my hand there, and will it to be stronger.

As I do, I see images in my mind. _Memories_.

Our dead pet bird, and the two of us weeping over it. My mother's smile, and the feeling of her warm, comforting touch on my shoulder. The first kiss I shared with Kiyosho, pure and innocent and untainted with the knowledge I hold now. The sorrow when he told me he had enlisted to go after his brother. The horror, standing amidst the dead during the battle. The moment I saw Kakashi's form in the forest. The beauty of Konoha. Kiyosho's death.

The warmth grows stronger and hotter and I know the connection is working.

And suddenly I see things that are definitely not _my_ memories.

A man, white-haired but with an unlined face, lying at an impossible angle in a pool of blood with a knife in his hand. An older shinobi's face, contorted in pain and staring down at the blade that had just been thrust into his chest – _the first kill_. The sound of a thousand chirping birds as a blinding blue light crackles and squeaks in a small hand. The face of a boy with orange goggles, half-crushed under an enormous boulder, that same red eye staring. A pretty young girl, her mouth open in horror as the last shred of life disappears from her body. Cold, cold despair, and the back of a black-haired boy wearing a blue shirt with a red-and-white insignia…

They're _his_ memories, and they're full of death and grief – so much grief that my hand almost drops. I feel the pain well up in my heart like an expanding balloon but I let it do just that.

And when I open his eyes again to the real scene before me, I see Kakashi but now he's wreathed in a flickering red glow and he half-turns his head to glance at me in shock –

Isamu comes out of nowhere and raises a kunai, and it's mere inches away when Kakashi twists his body infinitesimally and grabs Isamu's wrist without even looking, and throws him to the ground, cracking the rock surface.

Isamu's eyes are wide in disbelief as Kakashi grabs the kunai away from him, and as soon as Kakashi's hand comes in contact with it, the kunai flares red, like an extension of him, and he plunges the kunai into Isamu's chest.

_One, two, three._

He breathes shallowly thrice before he is completely still.

Dead.

::~::

There's a choked sob from behind me just as Kakashi falls limp against me. The fiery glow that had surrounded him has disappeared, and I can tell that he's absolutely exhausted. There's even blood leaking from his eye, I notice in alarm.

Tsubasa crawls weakly to Isamu's form, but she doesn't touch him. She merely stares down at his corpse as if in disbelief – is that relief I see in her eyes, or horror?

"Kakashi," I whisper, still cradling him, trying to conjure that energy again, but it doesn't come at all. Even when I try to heal him using medical ninjutsu, it doesn't work. I must be completely out of what little chakra I possess.

In the distance, Sakura is waking Naruto up, a faint green glow at her hands, and I know she's healing him.

"Sakura," I try to say, but it just comes out as a croak. I swallow, realizing how dry my throat is, and I smooth my fingers over Kakashi's brow, comforting myself with the thought that even though he's not in the best form right now, at least he's okay and alive. There's no rush, because the danger has passed.

I doubt Tsubasa will attack us on her own.

Sakura helps a limping Naruto over to us, even though she herself looked wan and entirely drained.

"Are you alright?" she asks me softly.

I don't really understand why she's speaking to me as though _I'm_ the one who's hurt, but I nod before she begins to heal Kakashi.

"Hey," I hear Naruto's voice and I turn in surprise to see him addressing Tsubasa, who doesn't respond at all.

"Naruto!" Sakura scolds, but she doesn't move. "I told you to keep still, or else you'll damage your leg even more!"

Naruto chooses to ignore her. "Hey," he says, more loudly, and when Tsubasa doesn't respond, he reaches out to shake her shoulder.

She jumps, and that same fear returns to her eyes. "You're … you're the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki!" she says in a terrified voice. I wonder vaguely how she would have known this – maybe Isamu told her?

"And you're a Jinchuuriki too," he replies rather calmly. "Was he," he points to Isamu's body, "your lover?"

She swallows. "I…" she stammers, turning to _me_, for some reason. "I d-don't know!"

I'm loath to leave Kakashi, but I can't deal with both of these things at the same time. I ease him off my lap gently, making sure Sakura has a firm hold on him and that he won't get hurt. Then I push myself to my feet and lurch to where Naruto is, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Naruto, we can deal with her later," I say softly. "She's not well. I'll answer any questions you have if you want."

Naruto's expression is unreadable, but he doesn't move, instead continuing to stare down at my half-sister.

"She won't do anything to hurt anyone," I say, almost pleadingly. I can't stay upright for long anymore due to exhaustion, but I want to get back to Kakashi before I collapse. "Not anymore."

"Why?" Naruto says, voice rather sullen.

"He's dead," I say simply.

"No," he says, shaking his head. "Why do you still protect her? She tried to kill you, didn't she?" _No, not kill … just severely injure. _"I know you're not doing this to save yourself, because I saw how you almost killed yourself."

I blanch. "I … She's my sister," I say with a frown.

"And that was your brother," he says, pointing to Isamu. Seeing my surprised expression, he adds, "He told us about it."

I feel my face whiten even more. _Then he must know about Kiyosho, too, and feel nothing but disgust towards me…_

"So why do you still protect her?" His voice is frustrated.

I hesitate, and then I realize why it is. "She's the only person left from my old life," I whisper. "And if I can't hope for her recovery … there's nothing left I can hope for."

He looks at me then, really looks at me, and I feel like he's seeing much more even than what Inoichi could find in my head. This boy … sometimes he could seem so immature, but now I'm able to see that he's really much beyond his years in maturity.

"Neechan," he says quietly, "you're really brave."

I smile weakly at him. "Look who's talking. I was really scared for you, Naruto. All of you. I don't even think I'm worth the risk of –"

"Don't say that," he says sharply. "You mean a lot to us all, especially Kakashi-sensei."

My eyes widen, but before I can ask what he means, there's a small noise behind me and I see Sakura helping Kakashi to his feet. He's grimacing in pain, but he doesn't make a sound.

There's a small poof, and Pakkun the dog appears.

"Kakashi, they're arriving soon," he says before taking in the sight of his master. "What happened to you?"

Kakashi shakes his head slightly. "Never mind that," he says, wincing again. "Is Yamato with them?" Pakkun nods at this, and Kakashi looks relieved. "That's it. Thanks, Pakkun."

The dog lifts his paw in a salute and disappears.

"We better get out of here," Kakashi says, glancing upwards. He removes his arm from around Sakura's shoulders and winces as he stands up straight. "Naruto, you take Mirai, and Sakura, you take the girl. I'll go tie up the guys over there," he says, and limps away to the unconscious Sora-nin.

Is he avoiding my eyes for a reason? I realize in despair that he must know everything about Kiyosho and I as well; he probably won't even talk to me again…

Naruto gestures for me to get on his back, and I oblige hesitantly. He's much shorter than Kakashi, barely taller than me, and I feel as if my weight is about to crush him. But he doesn't even react and jumps at least thirty feet into the air, out of the cave.

"What happened to the ceiling?" I ask as I survey the damage after getting off his back.

Naruto glances at me. "Uh, you kinda blew everything up."

My eyes widen. The chasm is at least fifty feet long and twenty feet wide … but with the power I remember, it isn't too difficult to imagine that I _did_ do this. The grief I had felt –

A small gasp escapes my lips. "Naruto, please, I need you to help me do something."

::~::

He helps me to the destroyed room, and rubble is everywhere. I know where the cot used to be, but it's buried in rocks.

My heart sinks, what little hope I had disappearing. There's no way he could have survived that, even if he'd miraculously been able to breathe again.

"Never mind," I whisper, but Naruto isn't listening. He's already beginning to dig through the rocks, flinging aside even the bigger ones.

"Naruto!" I say in concern. "Stop. There's nothing –"

"Nothing I can do?" he says in a low voice. "There's always something. We'll find him and we'll make sure he's buried somewhere suitable."

Tears of gratitude and of grief sting at my eyes as I watch him.

A few minutes later, more Konoha shinobi arrive, and some come to the room to help dig through the debris. And soon enough, they find the cot and the man in it. The withered, gaunt, thin man. His eyes are open but the lifelessness is absolutely undeniable.

They lift him out gently, and I move through everything accepting helping hands in a daze. Somehow we make it up to the surface again, and a pale ninja with brown hair, wearing the same clothes as Kakashi creates a makeshift coffin out of thin air. The wood is mahogany, and they place the body in there with much gentleness. They ask me to close his eyes, and I do so with much regret, knowing it is the last time I'll see those eyes, be they alive or dead. And quickly – too quickly – a lid is made for the coffin and he's gone from sight. I know it will be forever.

I try to utter words of thanks and appreciation, but they don't come out.

The same ninja takes out a scroll and does something that makes Tsubasa keel over, but Naruto assures me that she's not hurt and that Yamato, the brown-haired ninja, had done the same thing to him before, sealing the demon safely. I nod without really hearing or understanding him.

He tells me that I'm safe now, and that I shouldn't worry anymore. But I look around, and Kakashi is still nowhere to be seen, so I know he must be avoiding me. Tears sting at my eyes again, but I fight them back furiously.

The next thing I know, I'm on the back of a shinobi and then I'm drifting off to sleep.

::~::

You guys were right, I am a coward. I didn't kill her/them off. LOL. However, I did seriously consider doing that, and it would have made my life a lot easier in that I wouldn't have to write anything else for this story T-T But as it is, I'm going to be writing a couple more chapters for this story, just to wrap things up after all this plot stuff. I don't know if any of you can tell, but my writing is very plot-oriented and much less attention is paid to the characters and small detailed scenes, haha. T-T I had a bit of trouble writing this fight scene, which I've been putting off for the longest time, but I figure it's pretty inevitable… Not the best set of skills to bring to fanfic writing, but oh well. 

A note: the warp thing is Kakashi's Kamui. 

Please let me know what you think of this story, as we're nearing the end now. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated, and you know what I'm going to say next: 

_**Review, follow, and favourite!**_

-Jennifer *lots of sniffly hugs* 


	21. The Aftermath

"…exhaustion and dehydration … make sure both of them stay in bed, _especially_ that Kakashi. He has a reputation for disobeying _direct _orders from nurses…"

The smell of antiseptic and laundry detergent wakes me up, and I force heavy eyelids open to see white and pale green everywhere. The ceiling, bedside table and curtains are pure white, and the sheets and walls are pale green, and the choice of colours makes me slightly nauseous, but I keep my eyes open and try to push myself to a sitting position. I grimace, feeling something hard on my ribs, and I realize there's some sort of plaster that's holding it in one position. Am I injured there?

"Mirai-neechan!" comes an exclamation and I turn to see Sakura, much to my delighted surprise. She's dressed in a nurse's clothes.

"Sakura!" I smile, but wince when a pang of pain shoots down my neck. Surprised, I brush a finger against where it hurts, and the touch results in a dull ache.

"There's severe bruising on your neck and throat," Sakura says. "It must have happened when she was trying to throttle you. You also have a fractured rib – I'm surprised you were able to fight the pain before! It should have been overwhelming."

I blink, glancing down at the plaster again. "I … I didn't even notice," I say truthfully. "I mean before. The pain didn't bother me at all. I guess I wasn't paying much attention… Are _you_ okay?"

Sakura smiles at me, but it's a tired sort of smile. "I'm fine. I'm a medical-nin, remember? I healed myself before we even got back, so most of my injuries were already close to healed. I took a chakra pill on the way, and I'm completely fine."

"What about Naruto? And Kakashi?" I add hastily.

"Naruto is fine. The Kyuubi heals him at incredible rates… Kakashi however," she hesitates, and my heart skips a beat, "he's recovering. But he'll be fine." I let out a breath in relief. "He just went through severe chakra depletion … he wasn't supposed to use his Mangekyou Sharingan, you see, but he used it anyways and even tried to use Kamui. That's the thing that almost sucked Isamu into another dimension," she explains, seeing my confused expression. I still don't really understand though.

"He'll be okay, right?" I whisper.

Sakura smiles wanly. "He's always okay. Now, you should get some more rest."

"How long have I been here?"

"Almost a day, but that's completely normal. Now, rest," she says commandingly, and she adjusts my blankets as I lie back down obediently. She smiles before she leaves.

::~::

I pass the next couple of days in a haze. At first, I keep expecting Kakashi to drop by and visit me, but after frequent visits from Naruto, Sakura, and even Gai and his pupil Lee fail to procure even the slightest sign of him, I resign myself to knowing that he won't be visiting.

He must be avoiding me because he _knows_ about Kiyosho. That must be it, and really, I can't say I'm sorry he's not coming to talk to me. I don't know what I'd say to him, and I don't know what he's planning on telling me, if he's planning to tell me anything at all. There's so much that he's kept from me even now, like why he was so close to our little village that day, why he even stayed when he was obviously well enough to go back to Konoha, and how he even managed to track me to where Isamu had taken me. I know so little of this man, so why do I yearn for his company?

Though Sakura's company is a blessing in itself, she pretends she doesn't know anything about Kiyosho. Sensing that Naruto will be easier to ask, I question him about Kiyosho's funeral, if that will be held.

"They're waiting for you to be released, neechan," he says with an air that suggests that it's the most obvious thing in the world.

I appreciate that they're waiting for my decision in the matter, but it's a pressure that I hadn't expected to have to face. It should have been obvious that this was something I'd have to arrange, but with all that's been revealed to essentially everyone … I would have thought somebody would take the responsibility off my hands. Perhaps it's cowardice that makes me try and shirk away this responsibility; cowardice at facing Kiyosho, even in death. Knowing that he can't stand the sight of me … it's made me unable to even think about him anymore. It's unbearable.

Another thing I can't do is ask after the captured Sora-nin. Are they cooperating? Are they willing to settle down in this village like I am? Are they even still alive? I know there were maybe twenty of them, maybe even more than that, but nobody mentions to me and I fear that the answer will not be to my liking. I fear for their safety, but I also fear for the safety of Konoha citizens, and if the two clash, I have no idea what I will do.

They tell me I won't be here for much longer, and that as long as I keep the brace on to fix the position of my setting rib, they won't have much to worry about. The bruises on my neck are turning unpleasant shades of purple and yellow, but that only means they're on the right track to healing. The various minor cuts have all been healed already.

But the one person I can't help asking after is my sister.

"Sakura, what's happening to Tsubasa?" I ask, unable to stand the suspense anymore.

She flinches slightly, almost imperceptibly before she turns to face me, sponge in hand as she prepares to bathe me (the plaster is placed extremely awkwardly, and I can't move without the hard material hurting me one way or another). "She's fine," she says somewhat curtly.

"Are they interrogating her? Is she okay?"

"She's being interrogated, yes," Sakura says, and hesitates before continuing. "From what I've heard, she's been quite cooperative."

"She's afraid of pain," I explain to her.

Sakura nods. "That much is obvious. They didn't so much as even touch her before she spilled everything. Every little thing." The disgust on her face is unmasked as she washes my hair for me.

"It's not her fault," I say softly, and I feel Sakura's gaze flicker to the bruises. I know she thinks I'm being stupid, standing up for Tsubasa after all she's done, but I really _have _come to realize that my sister is the kind of person who can't help but be led by others, whether the intentions of those others might be good or bad. I don't even know if she knows the difference between right or wrong here. "We were both led to believe something, and it was only by luck that I came to Konoha and wasn't led in the same direction as her."

Sakura's brow furrows and her eyes are angry. "You're _nothing_ like her, Mirai. You'd never do the things she's done."

I swallow. I can't say I wouldn't have, because I really don't know. The way they talked about Konoha … Konoha became a bloodthirsty village of thieves and murderers, but it all made so much sense, and it had appealed to our sense of vengeance. Who's to say that I wouldn't have done exactly what Tsubasa had done if I'd been in her place?

As Sakura finishes and wraps a fluffy green towel around me, I thank her profusely – she's always been so kind to me.

"Where will you be staying after you're checked out?"

I blink at the question, having failed to consider it myself. "Um … I'm not sure," I say quite honestly. Would Kakashi still be willing to let me live at his place? That might be too much to hope for …

Sakura frowns. "Kakashi hasn't talked to you about this?"

A little hint of annoyance betrays me as I say, "He hasn't talked to me about anything. He hasn't visited me at all." I hate how I sound.

Sakura's surprise is sincere, and she even looks a bit angry. "That idiot … just wait until I get my hands on him…"

"Please don't give him more stress," I say, regretting my hasty annoyance now. "I'm sure he's still recovering too, and he needs his own rest to be –"

"You don't know how quickly he recovers," Sakura seethes, positively fuming now. "I'd thought that after what Naruto and I told him…"

She looks at me then, as if only remembering that I'm there. "You don't have to worry about _anything_, neechan," she says, even though I haven't said anything to show that I'm worried. "I'll take care of this. Kakashi will _definitely_ talk to you before you're checked out."

And with that, she leaves, ignoring my protests. I really don't know what I'd say if he _did_ come – 'I need to stay at your place again even though you're probably disgusted by me and I'm sorry that I brought you to a place where you were nearly killed?'

But it seems that I didn't have to worry about meeting Kakashi at the hospital because despite Sakura's furious promise, he doesn't come, and judging by Sakura's increased tendency to flare up in anger, I'm guessing that it's because he's refusing or ignoring her.

Kaori also comes to visit me, along with her daughter. She must have concluded (correctly) that her husband's presence would only be a negative.

"Oh dear, Mirai, I just heard that you were here!" she says in a concerned, motherly sort of voice. Then her eyes drift to the bruises on my neck (the plaster is mainly obscured by the blankets, so she can't see that) and a look of horror comes to her face. Her daughter also looks concerned but it's much less so, and I completely understand, knowing that Ino is a kunoichi who must has seen much worse. Kaori too must have seen much worse, but perhaps it's mainly because I'm a civilian and not a shinobi.

"I'm fine, really," I say hastily, "it really looks worse than it is."

Her eyes tear up a bit.

"I'm really sorry I haven't been able to come to the flower shop, Kaori-san. I swear, as soon as I get out of here –"

"No!" she says sharply. "Wait until you've recovered entirely – don't you dare come to work anytime before that."

And she looks so serious that I can't help but promise just that, feeling completely miserable. But really, it's a relief that nobody's expecting very much of me.

The day I'm released, Sakura tells me that I am completely welcome to stay at her place if I'd like, with a dark look on her face that's directed to Kakashi, who, even though he's not present, can make her furious. I smile and thank her, but inside I'm worrying about how Kakashi will react to seeing me again. At least I'll know if he doesn't want to see me anymore.

Sakura offers to accompany me, but I decline as politely as I can. She knows and I know that I have to do this alone, that I have to talk to Kakashi alone. She gives me a bit of a wan smile as I walk away stiffly because of the plaster.

I don't even have to think about where I'm going as I walk, because the way to Kakashi's place is something I don't think I'll ever forget. I mentally slap myself for thinking it, but I can't help feeling that his apartment feels like home to me.

_I'm going home,_ an obnoxious little voice sings in my head, making me feel confusedly elated. I scold it, telling it that it very well won't be my home for long.

My regular outfit has been discarded due to the sheer number of rips and tears in the fabric, and Sakura very kindly went out to buy me new clothes, something I've neglected to do since arriving in Konoha. The outfit she's gotten me is a knee-length one-piece, much like the one she wears quite often. The one she's gotten for me is a deep violet and it hugs my frame tightly but modestly. I'm not wearing it now only because of the plaster, and instead I'm wearing unflattering, loose hospital garments that don't fit me at all. I cringe as I see my reflection in a window.

I knock on the door, having lost the key.

I'm surprised when Kakashi answers almost immediately, and as he comes into my line of vision I drink in the sight of him greedily. His tousled silver hair is as soft-looking as ever, and his one visible eye widens fractionally in surprise before returning to its usual bored look. He's not wearing his usual shinobi outfit, but rather just the navy sweater and long black pants. His mask is up, as usual, but it comforts me somehow just to see him like this, unharmed.

"I'm sorry I lost your key," I say, slightly breathless without even greeting him.

He blinks, and his frame doesn't do anything to let me in. My heart sinks another inch. "It's fine. Nobody," he hesitates, "well, no thieves would break in to this apartment." I know he's talking about Isamu's break-in.

The ensuing silence is deafeningly awkward.

"I'm really sorry for causing you all this trouble," I say softly, not knowing really what else to say. I don't know if it's his intent to make me uncomfortable, but it certainly is working. I heard that he was once part of the psychology group in ANBU – he must have learned some tricks there. "I just … hope that you can forgive me, somehow."

His expression doesn't change whatsoever and he continues to stare at me in silence. A flutter of panic rises in my chest. What I wouldn't give to know what he's thinking…

"Why are you really here, Mirai?" he asks finally, voice quiet.

I swallow. I could have asked myself the same question. I avoid answering it. "Why didn't you come visit me?"

Something in his eyes hardens. "Is that what you would have wanted?" he asks, and if I didn't know better, I would have said that was a note of sarcasm in his voice.

"Why wouldn't I have wanted you to visit?"

He gazes at me. "I only thought … that after all that had happened, you wouldn't want to see me anymore. Or at least, you'd want some time alone."

He knows what I feel too well, much too well. "I… I did want the time to think … but I wanted to see you," I say quietly. "I thought that … maybe you didn't want to talk to me ever again … I was sure you were avoiding me." _And I still am._

Kakashi's masked face is unreadable, but it seems as though I've passed some sort of test and he lets me in, not bothering to close the door. He leaves it for me to close as he ambles to the kitchen, as if hasty to keep some distance between us. I clamp down on the feelings of hurt and rejection and follow him instead. He motions for me to sit, and I do, but he merely leans against the counter.

"How are you feeling?" he asks me rather suddenly.

_Upset. Rejected. Confused. _

"I'm fine."

"How's your rib?"

"Healing," I say. Can't he ask the questions I want him to ask, like 'Do you still need a place to stay?' or even 'Can I get you a cup of tea?', which is something I'm really craving at this moment.

He seems to have run out of useless questions to ask.

I stand up, and the sound of the chair's legs scraping against the floor makes me cringe. But I walk towards him, and though he remains impassive, I can sense that he stiffens, just a little as I near him.

I reach out a hand and pull down his mask.

"Please," I whisper, "tell me what you're thinking. Tell me what's really going on in your mind, because I'm so confused and worried, Kakashi."

His gaze hardens once again. Finally, he says, "You want the truth?"

I tear my eyes away from the mesmerizing movement of his lips, and I nod.

"I _have_ been avoiding you," he says in an inflectionless tone, and my heart sinks even lower. "I've been avoiding you, and Sakura knows it."

I swallow, feeling that familiar self-disgust start to flare up again. "Is it because … because of what happened with _him_?" I ask quietly, casting my eyes down. I can't look him in the eye, not when he's thinking of what I've done…

Quite audibly, and quite surprisingly, I hear him swallow. "It depends on what you mean."

At this point, I raise my gaze again, unable to bear it any longer. "What I mean is, are you avoiding me because you're disgusted that I slept with my half-brother?" I say loudly, feeling sick to the pit of my stomach and finding a vindictive pleasure in seeing him flinch.

_Please … don't lie and say 'no' to me. Just say 'yes' and get this all over with…_

But as I expect, he says in a strained tone, "No."

Tears of frustration well up, and I squeeze my eyes shut, willing them not to fall. Crying is something I've wasted far too much time doing – it's useless and it's a stupid, weak action.

"I should go," I say, turning away from him and striding quickly to the door. I hear him call my name, but it's a half-hearted protest, and it only makes me feel worse. "I don't even know why I came here. Thanks for all you've done for me."

But as I twist the doorknob, a heavy hand falls on my shoulder, and I freeze, staring at the door with an intensity that could burn holes through it. I don't know why I stop.

"Mirai," he murmurs; despite myself, a shiver runs through me, and I turn around slowly and unwillingly as if he'd hypnotised me.

His expression is again unreadable, but it's different from before.

But before I can begin to contemplate what he's thinking, he leans in, much to my shock, and kisses my temple.

"Take care of yourself," he murmurs.

::~::

Hey guys – yes, the longest hiatus I've taken thus far … 3 days without posting, I know! All right, so university just started for me and it's really quite busy … I'm only beginning to get used to waking up early again T-T. However, I'm super excited, and I've met super-nice people (though they all seem to scoff at my addiction to writing fanfiction…).

I know this is probably an unsatisfactory chapter and I'm sorry for that, but the next chapter will be called "The Promise". I'm hoping that it will tie most things up, and I might have one more chapter after that to completely end the story (though I might have an epilogue … I do love those ^^). 

Please, as always, review, follow, and favourite! :)

-Jennifer *weary hugs*


	22. The Promise

It doesn't feel like it's been a month since I've returned to Konoha.

I certainly don't feel as if I've settled down, not at all. I'm living with Sakura now, and since last week, we've been splitting the rent half-half due to my protests. I earn enough at the flower shop to cover my half.

I go through the days in a bit of a haze, not really _living_ each day. Loud noises and large birds scare me, and though Sakura tells me it's just shock, and that it'll wear off eventually, I know that it won't. I don't feel like myself anymore, and I tense up whenever I'm around people, the exception being Sakura. She's the only one around whom I can relax.

Even though she's younger than me, this girl is the one who helps me through everything, from daily tasks like using the dishwasher as well as planning for Kiyosho's funeral. It's not much of a funeral, but rather a little ceremony in a secluded area of the village where he'll be buried under a yew tree.

At last Sakura tells me about the Sora-nin. There are twenty-six of them, not including an additional twelve non-ninja civilians, adding up to thirty-eight Sky refugees apart from myself. They're being detained at a medium-security home, but they have decent accommodations and the Hokage is considering putting them in a separate village in the Fire Country.

It surprises me when I realize I really don't care.

It's not that I don't want to know what will happen to them, or that I wish the worst upon them, but it's more that I feel only a slight indifferent curiosity as opposed to fervent concern. I realize that I see myself _different_ from them, and apart from the Sky people now. Those being detained now are only remnants of the Sky, the once-great nation that fell to greed and hatred. I don't want to be part of that anymore. I _can't_ be part of it anymore.

I've also been putting off visiting Tsubasa, and a week before Kiyosho's funeral, I decide that I can't avoid her any longer. I arrange a meeting with her through Shizune, neglecting to inform Sakura of my decision with only a trace of guilt.

Two days later, the woman is leading me into a small nondescript building near the hospital. There are masked ANBU stationed outside.

"Only two?" I wonder out loud in surprise. By "medium security", I'd thought they would have had at least a small group of elite shinobi…

Shizune gives me a look that's half-rueful and half-exasperated. "The Sora-nin aren't exactly the biggest threats," she says carefully. "Two ANBU … that's more than enough to make sure nothing happens."

I don't really know what I ought to feel, hearing this – relieved or ashamed – but I'm spared any further consideration when no feeling arises at all.

Sullen eyes follow me through the hallways, but nobody moves at all. They don't care anymore, just like me. Even when I see Kentaro's hollow eyes, I barely pause before moving on.

Shizune stops at a door with a lock – the _only_ door with a lock – and takes out a key. The door swings open to reveal a simple, drab bedroom, furnished only by the small bed, drawers, and a closet on the side. There's a window that's barely big enough to illuminate the room. She lets me in. "I'll be outside. Just shout and I'll be right there."

I nod mutely before the door clicks shut, staring transfixed on the figure sitting on the bed, back towards me. There's a long, tangled mane of pitch-black hair strewn across white cloth that covers narrow shoulders.

"So you finally decided to grace me with your presence," she says quietly. There's no sarcasm in that voice, only emptiness.

"Why are you locked up in here, Tsubasa?"

She doesn't answer.

I stride forward and, ignoring all inhibitions, walk around the bed and sit right beside her. I can finally sit without having the hardness of the plaster cutting into my skin, since the plaster was removed a few days ago. As it is, slight pain lances through me.

She doesn't even move, and both of us stare straight ahead at a pale, gray wall.

"Are you just going to ignore me?" I say in an inflectionless voice. Like never before, it's as easy as breathing to muster.

She laughs a humourless laugh. "I can't, can I now? I can't even keep you out of my head. Why would I ignore you now that you're here in person?"

"What are you talking about?"

"All these … feelings you're experiencing. You're sharing them all with me. The depression. The frustration. The lovesickness." She spits out the last word like a curse. "It was because of _him_ that you betrayed us, wasn't it?"

_Kakashi. _

My hands suddenly grow cold. I've tried to push thoughts of him out of my mind – to considerable success, really – but just the mention of his name sends a flood of betrayal coursing through my system. I stare more intently at the wall.

Tsubasa utters a low groan from beside me. "Stop it," she hisses.

"Why are you the only one locked up?" I demand again, a slight edge impatience flaring.

"Because of these stupid moods you go through," she snarls. "They make me _sick_, and they make me frustrated, and nobody listens…"

But just as she can feel what I feel, I sense a lie there. She's keeping something from me.

"You asked for this, didn't you?" I say softly, still staring at the gray expanse. The form beside me stiffens. "They didn't lock you up to begin with … but the others, they bullied you and shunned you … that's why you began to lash out."

As each word tumbles out of my mouth, I _know_ they're true. I can feel the panic rising within her, and my own heartbeat responds by racing just as quickly.

But I take a deep breath and urge myself to become calm. At first, nothing happens, but as I keep breathing, the hands I hadn't noticed were clenched relax, and hunched shoulders loosen up. I know the panic is disappearing within her as well, and I can hear a small, surprised inhalation.

"You were always the stronger one," she says weakly.

I swallow. "No," I whisper, "I was never the stronger one. But I was the one who loved the most, and after you and so many others betrayed me … I _grew_ stronger – you _must_ see that, Tsubasa."

It's a complete and honest truth. I know what she's feeling because when she'd been the stronger one, I'd felt it; whenever she'd experienced strong emotions, I'd felt them tampering within me like invasive little creatures. But now … because _I'm_ stronger, she's the one being tampered with.

I stand and turn to her, my eyes resting on my half-sister for the first time in weeks. She's dressed in simple garments, no doubt something she was given to wear. It's an ill fit, and I can see that she's displeased about it. She's become spoilt, used to riches and flamboyance…

"I see it," she whispers, and her body seems to sag as if confronted with a terrible weight. Is it the weight of being inferior?

"Did you really love him?" I ask quietly, and we both know who I mean.

"I don't know. I don't know," she repeats in a whisper, covering her face with her hands. Her voice is slightly muffled as she goes on, "He scared me so much sometimes … I felt like he would really make a mistake and kill me. But then he could be so tender … caring … and his moods would last weeks – he'd be so kind and considerate for weeks, and then he'd switch to violence and threats for a fortnight …" Her hands come down from her face, and I see evidence of tears and puffy eyes. Despite all that she's done, I can't help feeling a pang of pity for her. She didn't ask for any of this either… "What do you think of me now, Mirai?" she asks softly.

_What do I think of her? _

The mere sound of her name is synonymous with traitor and heartless to me. But whenever Sakura makes some comment about her, even if it's just the slightest little slip of the pink-haired kunoichi's tongue … I can't stand it. I just can't seem to leave her behind, to leave any of my past behind…

"You're still my sister, Tsubasa," I reply quietly. "Whether you like it or not."

_And whether _I_ like it or not._

::~::

I had never really noticed the beauty of falling rain.

I suppose it was mostly because I'd never had the time to stop and stand in it for so long like I'm doing now, because I'd always been hurrying somewhere, someplace. Now I that I've been standing in the same spot for at least an hour on this grassy field, I can appreciate the beauty of it; the way it comes down in billowing sheets, the fresh cathartic feeling of it as it washes away all the filthy emotions that encase me.

_Grief. Despair. Hatred. Regret._

The ceremony has been completed. His wooden coffin, decorated with carvings of tiny sparrows in flight, has been lowered into the giant pit that's now covered by a mat of densely-packed soil. A simple gray tombstone bearing his name has been erected at the head of the grave, and it stands proudly as the rain tries in vain to wash it away. An aged yew tree stares severely down at it like a guardian.

Time is irrelevant, and it's only the distant toll of some clock that informs me that I've been here for hours. The ceremony was simple and some of the Sora-nin were present. A few of them had given me strange looks – looks that I'd ignored, because it wasn't _about_ them. And after they'd left, the cloudy skies began to weep, and have continued to do so quite relentlessly for the past hour or so.

The skies cry the tears I'm no longer able to muster.

I jump as something touches my shoulder, and only a few seconds later do I realize it's only Sakura's tentative hand.

"You'll catch a cold," she tells me softly, and it's only then I realize I'm completely and utterly soaked. I shift my weight and hear the sound of water sloshing beneath my clad feet.

I shake my head. "Won't catch a cold," I protest numbly. "You don't catch a cold from being cold."

It had been something at which Kiyosho had once laughed and told me. It's funny how these memories come back at the most sensitive moments.

Sakura's not completely dry either, and I assume she's been standing by my side, waiting for me to come to my senses for a while now. There's not much point in staring at this patch of wet dirt anymore. But I can't see to leave.

I shake my head again. "You go," I murmur. "Don't wait for me. I'll be fine."

Maybe she realizes she won't be able to convince me. Or maybe she's just tired of reasoning with me. She gives me one last concerned glance before walking away, shoes squelching in mud.

I lift my eyes back to the tombstone, just staring. Unlike how others might have been thinking about all the good times with him, I can't bring myself to conjure all those feelings I'd held. I can't relive all those memories that were once so sweet and precious, but now they're just regrets, one after another. The pain is too fresh.

And all I can do is stare numbly as time begins to neglect me once again, washing by me like water rushing past an adamant stone, anchored to the past.

::~::

_Mirai? _

I groan, feeling heavy and lethargic.

"Mirai, wake up."

The voice isn't in my head. It's really someone calling my name. My eyelids flutter open, and it takes me a few seconds to register what I see before me.

"Kakashi?" I breathe. I don't understand…

His masked face is right in front of mine, and he's crouched so that we're face to face. I realize I'm sitting on damp grass, and I'm not sure why. My head is resting against a rough surface…

"Oh," I say weakly. It's the yew tree. I must have fallen asleep on Kiyosho's grave, and by the look of the dark, starry night, it's been a while. It feels strange that Kakashi is here, of all places … he shouldn't be anywhere near Kiyosho, because the two of them are just different halves of my life…

His eyes are impassive as he stands, waiting for me to follow suit. He doesn't offer any help, and I'm not sure what to make of that as I stagger to my feet. Should I be glad or irked?

I try to get a better glimpse of his face, but he turns away at the last moment, avoiding my eye. "You're staying with Sakura, right?" he asks quietly.

I nod. "Why ... why are you here?"

He doesn't turn back to look at me, and I follow him as he walks towards the village. "I fancied a stroll and happened to find you here."

"Liar," I say without thinking. He wouldn't have come _here_. He would have known what was happening here. "Were you looking for me?" I ask boldly.

His footsteps slow, just a little, and I see him glance at me. "Yes," he says finally.

A little flutter of satisfaction makes its way through my body, even though I don't know why it's there. He's made it clear that he doesn't want that kind of relationship with me…

"What did you want to tell me?"

He doesn't answer this, and I quicken my pace so that I'm shoulder-to-shoulder with him. And when he continues to ignore me, I stop in front of him – he'd have to skirt around me awkwardly if he wants to avoid me anymore.

He stops. The look in his eye is wary.

"Why are you doing this, Kakashi?" I whisper. "Are you trying to hurt me even more?"

He flinches slightly, swallowing. "No," he breathes. "Of course not. I would never…"

"Then _why_?" I all but scream, and frustration wells inside me like a dam fit to burst.

His eye drops closed and his brow furrows. "Please," he says quietly, "just come with me. Just hear me out back at my place."

How can I deny him this request? Despite all the frustration I hold directed towards him, this man is someone who's risked his life for me. And when he's looking like this, so _helpless_, so unlike the reassured self he usually is … when he looks like he _needs_ me, I can't help myself from doing whatever he asks.

And I start to pick up small details about his appearance. Has he always looked this tired – old, even? Were those really bags under his eyes, or just the light? His posture seems to be relaxed at first, but only one hand is in the pocket of his pants. The other is fiddling. Is it just me or has he really changed since I last saw him?

Vaguely I wonder what we look like to other villagers as we walk through the streets. We're walking side-by-side, but not touching in any way. He's a famous shinobi, and I'm known for being a Sky refugee, if I'm known at all. Do they see me as a desperate, shameless woman, trying to regain some respectability by warming up to a trusted citizen of Konoha?

And not only that, but I also wonder what Kakashi thinks of me. What he has ever thought of me.

He'd told me that he wasn't playing with my feelings that time he'd kissed me in the interrogation hallway. Was he telling the truth? I can't help but feel as if there had to be at least that one point in time at which he _did_ have feelings for me. A faint warmness seeps through me, and I marvel at how silly my reactions are to the most improbable of things …

The man who'd glanced around furtively before kissing me with a cheeky glint in his eye didn't resemble the man beside me who wore a stony expression and a concealing mask. The man beside me was a man of war, and one who could certainly exhibit ruthlessness.

But how could I say that about him, knowing that he had risked his life for me?

And just then, I came to the conclusion that I really knew nothing about him, even after all this time. I didn't know what his favourite colour was, I didn't know who were his friends, and I didn't know if he drank matcha in the evenings. Such was the life of a shinobi … few others ever got to know you.

Seeing his apartment building is like returning home after a three-year-long voyage at sea. I don't know why this overwhelming feeling of relief is invoked _now_ instead of when I finally settled in with Sakura. How is it that I find comfort in the very home from which Isamu forcefully kidnapped me on the most tumultuous night of my life?

But even so, I can't help but let a sigh of relief escape.

_Home. _

The apathetic man beside me unlocks the door with a swift movement and turns on the light, all in a strange, silent mood. Despite his plea for me to hear him out back in his home, he hasn't initiated conversation yet. I settle for observing him – will this be the last time we'll be so close?

He doesn't even look at me as he flicks on the light in the kitchen as we sit down at the table. The light irritates me for some strange reason; I liked it much more when it had just been the pale moonlight coming in through his window, which is ajar, the curtains caught in the slight breeze.

When my gaze travels back to Kakashi, I notice that he's staring at me quite intently with his one visible eye. But not my face.

My hand jumps to my throat self-consciously, tugging up the collar of the dark sweater I put on without really realizing what I'd been doing. I should have worn something with a higher collar to cover up the bruises that had faded to an ugly yellow-gray.

"I'm sorry about that," he says quietly. I shake my head automatically, but he goes on. "I should have been there. I underestimated him."

I don't answer. What is there to say? 'It's okay, he's dead now'?

I stare at his hands, which are folded on the table, seemingly relaxed, but the whiteness of his knuckles give away his tension. I notice that even the skin on the backs of his hands are scarred with light marks.

He seems to notice my scrutiny and pulls his hands back slightly.

"I wanted to ask you," he says in a low voice, and I look up, surprised at his sudden change in tone. His mask is still up, but despite how I can't see his expression, I can tell he's not about to jest. His visible eye is slightly hooded, dark intensity. I have never seen eyes as black as his. "Mirai," he murmurs, shocking me out of my reverie, "answer me honestly, will you?"

I swallow.

_Of course_, I want to say, but my throat is impossibly dry, parched as the sandpaper Kentaro had used on my scratched door what seems like a lifetime ago.

"Mirai," he says, a single decibel louder, and there's only his face before my eyes. Everything else fades … I see only him.

"Of course," I manage, and beneath the safety of the table, hidden from him, my cold hands tremble as I keep them from rising to pull down that mask, to pull him toward me, smooth those harsh tired lines out…

He reaches his hands out, an unmistakable request for mine. I gulp, knowing that the trembling won't cease anytime soon, but place them in his anyway.

Clammy, cold, and trembling, but he clasps them in his warm, scarred hands anyway.

"Do you love me?"

I can't help but flinch, the unexpected question doubly surprising. It was _Kakashi_ who was asking it … and, just _what_?

I try to pull my hands away, avoiding his eyes, but his grasp is firm and unrelenting.

"Why does it matter?" I mutter, finally giving up trying – there's no contest between us with regards to strength.

"It matters," he says simply, evenly. The collectedness of his tone makes me want to scowl and sob at the same time. How can he be so inflectionless about it? How can he even say that without a single hiccup in his voice?

But just as I think this, there's a shift in the atmosphere that makes me turn back to him, and I see that I was wrong. There's turmoil in his eyes.

"It matters the world to me."

And those words break all intentions I had.

Before I can stop – or even think to stop – I blurt it out.

"I love you."

~::~

Heh, heh, heh… Hi guys? 

Sorry it's been such a long time, and sorry for the terribleness of this chapter. I am having the most difficult time trying to end this story, which I totally just plowed through this past August! To tell you guys the truth, I've had pretty much the entire chapter done since September, but haven't known what to finish it with! I had planned this corniness, but thought it was too corny, but ended up doing it anyway. :(

I know I said one more chapter, but I lied. There is another chapter after _this one_. Hopefully I can finish it during the winter break, which starts after my last final on the 17th, and ends on January 2nd… Sorry guys. 

Seeing the reviews pop up in my email has definitely hastened my posting of this chapter though. Thank you guys for all the kind comments – I know I have a lot of improve upon, but right now I am just so busy with school it's ridiculous. :( Thank you, and thank you. 

Please review, follow, favourite! 

-Jen 3


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